ORCID Profile
0000-0002-5115-4179
Current Organisation
UNSW Sydney
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Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2024
Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
Date: 20-05-2013
DOI: 10.1021/NN4007303
Abstract: The diffusive dynamics of dilute dispersions of nanoparticles of diameter 200-400 nm were studied in microfabricated arrays of nanoposts using differential dynamic microscopy and single particle tracking. Posts of diameter 500 nm and height 10 μm were spaced by 1.2-10 μm on a square lattice. As the spacing between posts was decreased, the dynamics of the nanoparticles slowed. Moreover, the dynamics at all length scales were best represented by a stretched exponential rather than a simple exponential. Both the relative diffusivity and the stretching exponent decreased linearly with increased confinement and, equivalently, with decreased void volume. The slowing of the overall diffusive dynamics and the broadening distribution of nanoparticle displacements with increased confinement are consistent with the onset of dynamic heterogeneity and the approach to vitrification.
Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
Date: 11-05-2022
DOI: 10.1021/ACS.BIOMAC.2C00178
Abstract: Bacterial cellulose biofilms are complex networks of strong interwoven nanofibers that control transport and protect bacterial colonies in the film. The design of erse applications of these bacterial cellulose films also relies on understanding and controlling transport through the fiber mesh, and transport simulations of the films are most accurate when guided by experimental characterization of the structures and the resultant diffusion inside. Diffusion through such films is a function of their key microstructural length scales, determining how molecules, as well as particles and microorganisms, permeate them. We use microscopy to study the unique bacterial cellulose film via its pore structure and quantify the mobility dynamics of various sizes of tracer particles and macromolecules. Mobility is hindered within the films, as confinement and local movement strongly depend on the void size relative to diffusing tracers. The biofilms have a naturally periodic structure of alternating dense and porous layers of nanofiber mesh, and we tune the magnitude of the spacing via fermentation conditions. Micron-sized particles can diffuse through the porous layers but cannot penetrate the dense layers. Tracer mobility in the porous layers is isotropic, indicating a largely random pore structure there. Molecular diffusion through the whole film is only slightly reduced by the structural tortuosity. Knowledge of transport variations within bacterial cellulose networks can be used to guide the design of symbiotic cultures in these structures and enhance their use in applications like biomedical implants, wound dressings, lab-grown meat, clothing textiles, and sensors.
Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
Date: 2016
DOI: 10.1039/C6SM00502K
Abstract: In purely viscous Newtonian fluids, mechanical mixing of the fluid stream as it moves through an unstructured porous medium controls the long-time dispersion of molecular tracers. In applications ranging from environmental remediation to materials processing, however, particles are transported through porous media in polymer solutions and melts, for which the fluid properties depend on the shear rate and extent of deformation. How the flow characteristics of polymer solutions affect the spreading of finite-sized particles remains poorly understood - both on the microscopic scale as local velocity profiles, and on the macroscale as dispersion. Here, we show across a range of flow rates and disordered porous media configurations that the long-time transport coefficients of particles flowed in water, in a viscous Newtonian fluid, and in a non-Newtonian shear-thinning polymer solution collapse onto scaling curves, independent of the fluid rheology. Thus the addition of polymer does not impact nanoparticle dispersion through disordered porous media.
Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
Date: 2016
DOI: 10.1039/C6SM01543C
Abstract: We identify distinct mechanisms controlling slowing of nanoparticle diffusion through complex media featuring both rigid geometrical confinement and soft mobile crowders. Towards this end, we use confocal microscopy and single particle tracking to probe the diffusion of 400 nm nanoparticles suspended in Newtonian water, in a Newtonian glycerol/water mixture, or in a non-Newtonian polymer solution through a model porous medium, a packed bed of microscale glass beads. The mobility of nanoparticles, as quantified by the long-time diffusion coefficient extracted from the particle mean-squared displacement, slows as the average pore size of the packed bed media decreases for both Newtonian and non-Newtonian solutions. The distribution of particle displacements is non-Gaussian, consistent with the spatial heterogeneity of the geometrical confinement imposed by the packed bed. The slowing of nanoparticle mobility in all solutions follows the predictions of models that describe hydrodynamic interactions with the packed bed. In non-Newtonian solutions, depletion interactions due to the polymers near the glass beads result in temporary adsorption of particles onto the bead surface, as indicated by a stretched-exponential distribution of residence times. Our results therefore suggest that the confined diffusive dynamics of nanoparticles in polymer solutions is controlled by two competing mechanisms: hydrodynamic interactions between particles and spatial obstacles, which dictate the long-time slowing of diffusion, and depletion interactions between particles and confining walls due to the macromolecules, which control transient adsorption and hence alter the statistics of the short-time motion.
Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
Date: 29-10-2019
DOI: 10.1021/ACS.BIOMAC.9B01143
Abstract: Microcapsules with controlled stability and permeability are in high demand for applications in separation and encapsulation. We have developed a biointerfacial process to fabricate strong, but flexible, porous microcapsules from bacterial cellulose at an oil-water emulsion interface. A broad range of microcapsule sizes has been successfully produced, from 100 μm to 5 cm in diameter. The three-dimensional capsule microstructure was imaged using confocal microscopy, showing a cellulose membrane thickness of around 30 μm that is highly porous, with some pores larger than 0.5 μm that are permeable to most macromolecules by free diffusion but can exclude larger structures like bacteria. The mechanical deformation of cellulose microcapsules reveals their flexibility, enabling them to pass through constrictions with a much smaller diameter than their initial size by bending and folding. Our work provides a new approach for producing soft, permeable, and biocompatible microcapsules for substance encapsulation and protection. The capsules may offer a replacement for suspended polymer beads in commercial applications and could potentially act as a framework for artificial cells.
Publisher: arXiv
Date: 2022
Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
Date: 22-07-2014
DOI: 10.1021/MA501248U
Location: Australia
Location: Iran (Islamic Republic of)
No related grants have been discovered for Firoozeh Babayekhorasani.