Abstract :
The physicochemical properties and functionalities of materials are significantly influenced by intermolecular interactions and surface characteristics. Understanding these interactions, particularly noncovalent forces, is crucial for advancing soft materials (e.g., surfactants, polymers,
biopolymers) and biological systems. This seminar will provide an overview of the fundamentals of intermolecular and surface forces, followed by an introduction to key nanomechanical techniques used to probe these interactions. Recent progress on how we applied nanomechanical tools for quantifying the intermolecular and surface interactions of polymer/biopolymer materials and biological systems (e.g., wet adhesion of marine mussels) will be presented. Our recent studies have systematically characterized the intermolecular and surface interaction mechanisms of mussel adhesives. The elucidated fundamental interaction mechanisms (e.g., biopolymer-metal ion coordination, cation-π, anion-π, hydrophobic and hydrogen bonding interactions in aqueous media) have been applied to develop multifunctional soft materials (e.g., self-healing polymers/hydrogels, wet adhesives) with various bioengineering applications. These findings offer valuable insights into biological self-assembly processes and introduce novel approaches for the development of multifunctional soft materials or surfaces through tunable molecular interactions.
Biography:
Hongbo Zeng is a Professor in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Alberta, holding the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in intermolecular forces and interfacial science. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and the Royal Society of Chemistry. Zeng earned his BSc and MSc degrees at Tsinghua University and completed his PhD at the University of California, Santa Barbara, under the supervision of Professor Jacob Israelachvili and Professor Matthew Tirrell. Zeng's research interests include colloid and interface science, functional materials, and nanotechnology, with a special focus on intermolecular and surface interactions in soft materials and engineering processes. He has published a book and over 500 peer-reviewed journal articles. His contributions have been recognized with many awards, including the CSChE Innovation Award from the Chemical Institute of Canada, the Killam Professorship, University of Alberta Engineering Career Research Award, and the NSERC Steacie Fellowship, and the van der Waals Prize. Zeng also serves as an Editor of the journal Advances in Colloid and Interface Science and an Editorial Advisory Board member of Langmuir.