Name:
Simon Maaland
Country:
United States
City:
Houston
State/Province:
TX
ACS Member:
Local Section:
International Chapter:
Technical Division Membership:
Technical Division Membership Emeritus:
Subdivision Member:
ACS Activities:
Company/Institution Name:
Career Stage:
Professional
Research and Special Interests:
Under the direction of Professor Advincula my research was mainly focused on surface coatings, analysis, and modifications.
At the start of my research I was working on a project focusing on antireflective properties. The property was achieved by incorporating silica nanoparticles within an aqueous solution in order to obtain a porous structure containing air within the polymer film. When these "air pockets" are created, the refractive index of the film now follows the equation nc = (na* nb)1/2 where as the ideal refractive index for a single layer is 1.23, and with a layer thickness of /4 it will produce destructive interference of the waves that are reflected while constructive interference of the wave is transmitted and therefore we are able to obtain antireflective properties within the visible spectrum.
My main research project however was on the study of "Adsorption of Fibrinogen on polyionic azobenzene layer-by-layer film using photoisomerization" where my preprint was published in Polymer Preprints (American Chemical Society, Division of Polymer Chemistry) (2008), 49(1), 990-991. This study used the layer-by-layer deposition technique in order to construct multilayers containing a photosensitive azobenzene moiety. By irradiating the film with 360 nm UV-light the azobenzene group functions as a "switch" and translates between cis- and trans-configuration. The investigation concluded that the morphology change resulted in a smoother film allowing the Fibrinogen to rearrange and thus more is adsorbed. The configuration also returns to its original state upon thermal relaxation when removed from UV-light.
The research about "Adsorption of Fibrinogen on polyionic azobenzene layer-by-layer film using photoisomerization" was presented at the 235th American Chemical Society National Meeting & Exposition in New Orleans, LA, in 2008 with financial support from AGEP and NSF.
Area of Expertise:
Polymer chemistry, surface chemistry, coatings, oilfield technology
Years of Expertise:
1-5