(212f) Electrohydrodynamics In Nanoparticle-Embedded Polymer Gels: Effects Of Morphology And Electrostatic Potential

Research involving gels with embedded nanoparticles of varying properties is quite attractive because of the multitude of potential applications, including separation of biomacromolecules to aid in the development of new pharmaceuticals, as well as the analysis of the efficiency and control of drug delivery. The presence of nanoparticles within gels has the potential to modify the electrokinetic properties of the gels; therefore, these nanoparticles may influence electro-osmotic flows, as it has been shown in preliminary studies for sensor applications (Matos et al., 2006).

An understanding of the motion of solute within the nanoparticle-embedded gels, such as proteins, DNA, and other macromolecules, can be obtained by performing an analysis that utilizes electrokinetics, hydrodynamics and volume or area averaging (Sauer et al, 1995; Oyanader et. al., 2005). These principles involve the use of electrostatics coupled with convective-diffusive transport. Capillary bundle models are useful for the analysis of the effect of the modified gel architecture on the separation of biomacromolecules in the gels.

This project focuses on capillary models whose characteristics are ideal domains to mimic the gel morphology. Such domains allow for the use of a nonuniform electrostatic potential along the capillary walls in order to capture the electrostatic behavior between the nanoparticles and the gel. They also have the flexibility of incorporating a variable cross section along the axial axis. This communication will report details and illustrations of the modeling efforts. Experimental aspects about the synthesis and characterization of the nano-composite gels are included in a different presentation. (See also, Sedrick, 2007).

References:

Matos, MA, White LR, Tilton RD. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 2006 (300): 429-436.

Sauer, S., B.R. Locke, and P. Arce, ?Effect of Axial and Orthogonal Applied Electric Fields on Solute Transport in Poiseuille Flows: An Area Averaging Approach,? Ind. & Eng. Chem. Research, 34, 886 (1995).

Oyanader MA, Arce P. Electrophoresis 2005 (26): 2857.

Sedrick HE, Bollig JR, Stretz HA, Arce P. AIChE Regional Conference, 2007, Columbia, SC.