Thesis Archive

Multiphase flows are so common in everyday life as to go unnoticed, yet they have eluded rigorous characterization, especially in confined settings and under the influence of surfactant. The objective of the present work is two-fold: (1) to develop high-accuracy and extensible computational tools to study confined and contaminated emulsions,...

Bone marrow derived human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are a promising cell source for many regenerative therapies; however, ex vivo expansion of hMSCs on stiff materials, such as tissue culture plastic or glass-based microbeads suspended in bioreactors is necessary to achieve therapeutic cell numbers. During this expansion the regenerative capacity...

Valvular interstitial cells (VICs), the main cell population within the aortic heart valve, transition from a quiescent fibroblast phenotype to an active phenotype, such as a pro-fibrotic myofibroblast or a pro-calcific osteoblast-like phenotype in response to microenvironmental cues. Maladaptive effects of prolonged VIC activation into either the myofibroblast or the...

The overall objective of this work is to develop a novel methodology of surface modification, which can be broadly applied to polymer networks such as elastomer and hydrogel. Two types of polymerization mechanisms, namely, step-growth and chain-growth polymerization, at the interface between a solid and a liquid, were served as...

Flash sintering is a novel field assisted sintering technique, whereby ceramics can be sintered in just a few seconds. For example, 3 mol% yttria stabilized zirconia (3YSZ) was shown to sinter in < 5 seconds at a furnace temperature of 850°C under electric field of 120 V/cm. Several mechanisms have...

Covalent adaptable network (CAN) has attracted significant interest in the soft matter community, as it enables stress relaxation in a crosslinked polymer network. However, all CAN systems have developed thus far are in the rubbery state. This thesis is focused on the development of mechanically strong, high glass transition temperature...

Phospholipids are amphiphillic molecules found in living tissues and the predominant components of cell membranes. Phospholipids self-assemble into bilayer structure, and self-closing of the bilayer structure forms a spherical membrane which names liposome. Liposomes composed of different phospholipids have been widely used as encapsulation materials in cosmetics, bio-imaging and drug-delivery...

This thesis is focused on the advancement of enabling photopolymer materials for holography and additive manufacturing. The first part of this thesis covers the design, synthesis and implementation of novel chemistries in two-stage holographic photopolymers. First, photopolymerizable high refractive index monomers (nD/20ºC: 1.60 – 1.67) with enhanced solubilities were developed...

The coexistence of order and fluidity in soft condensed matter often mimics that found in biological cells, which allows for complex collective dynamics and for highly technological applications, like displays and sensors. In active soft matter, different forms of emergent order can even arise because of this out-of-equilibrium dynamic behavior,...

One of the challenges of the 21 st century is creating a sustainable economy that is able to serve the needs of a growing population with the decreasing supply of natural resources. In addition to alternative energy sources, renewable economy concerns production of materials and chemicals. The chemical and polymer...