Email: yxie@ciac.jl.cn

CURRENT RESEARCH:

    Physical gelation in polymer solution is studied in this project. Sol-gel transition behavior is influenced strongly by polymer solution properties. In order to describe the physical gelation behavior in polymer solution clearly, at first, polymer solution properties have to be understood deeply. Although the theoretical and experimental researches in polymer solution have been an important subject since the polymer science was set up, the physics essence and physical process of some important problems are still not clear enough, especially for the understand of the complex behavior of biomolecular solution system, the theoretical description in tradition polymer solutions considering solvent structure and size, and so on.
     Physical gelation in polymer solution is sensitive to so many factors that experiments are difficult to cover all the possible events and theoretical approximation is difficult to provide quite exact forecast and description, so computer simulation becomes a very important means in the researches of physical gelation in polymer solution. Considering this, my working project combines the DPD simulation technique and some experimental methods to study the physical gelation in polymer solution, focusing on the configuration of polymer chains, aggregates sizes and their size distributions, sol-gel phase diagrams and other aspects.
     Recently, the system in our research is aqueous solution of triblock copolymers of the polyethylene oxide-polypropylene oxide-polyethylene oxide. Experimental techniques used are: small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), fluorescence spectrum, dynamic differential scanning (DSC), static and dynamic light scattering and rheology. At the same time, the mechanism of the gelation of the solution of PEO-PPO-PEO is studied using the simulation method of DPD.

  On leaving to Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences