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Prof. Maria Silvina Tomassone

Professor 

 

M.S. Physics, Northeastern University, 1994
Ph. D. Physics, Northeastern University, 1998

 

Tel: (848) 445-2972 
Fax: (732) 445-2581 
email: silvina@soe.rutgers.edu

MY LATEST RESEARCH

Janus particles hold great promise in the field of drug delivery due to their ability to simultaneously deliver two different drugs with decoupled release kinetics. Phase separation of two immiscible polymer species (or polymer and lipid) within emulsion droplets is a robust and straightforward method for producing Janus particles in large scale

From a purely thermodynamic perspective, particle shape is a function of the interfacial tensions between the two polymers, as well as that between each of the polymers and the aqueous phase containing surfactant. It was found that a wide range of morphologies is attainable by simply tuning the type and concentration of surfactant. For example, when PVA was used as surfactant, biphasic Janus particles with approximately two equal halves were formed. However, when SDS, SDBS, or CTAB were used, particle shape varied from crescent moon to nearly two separated droplets depending on surfactant concentration. A thermodynamic model based on the minimization of free energy was developed in order to predict Janus particle morphology. The model also allows for extraction of polymer properties such as surface tension from Janus particle geometry as obtained by standard microscopy measurements

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