Our research focuses on the manifold ways in which surfactants and amphiphilic molecules aggregate, adsorb, and generally modify interfaces. A very fundamental aspect of this research addresses the relationship between surfactant molecular structure and the type and stability of liquid crystalline aggregates formed by these surfactants. Of particular interest are transitional liquid crystal phases which lie in the compositional space between rodlike and lamellar aggregates.

These materials can be applied to the immobilization of enzymes, the emulsification of immiscible liquids, the templating of polymeric and ceramic microstructures, such as ultrafilters and finely divided catalytic materials, and to the understanding of membrane-driven phenomena in biological systems.

One problem being explored includes the role of asphaltene aggregation in emulsion stabilization, oil spills, crude oil transportation, and heavy crude upgrading. Asphaltenes are high molecular weight (500-3500 grams/mole) polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons which occur in a variety of natural energy sources, including crude oil or petroleum, coal, shale, bitumen, tar sands, and other derivatives of kerogen (pressurized, decomposed organic matter). Asphaltenes are marginally stable in crude oil and other energy fluids and tend to aggregate depending on conditions of solvency, temperature, and pressure.

The aggregation of asphaltenes can give rise to increased viscosity, emulsion stabilization, foam stability, formation of so-called "chocolate mousses" in oil spills, and serious challenges with the upgrading of heavy crude residuals. The underlying physics and chemistry of asphaltene aggregation is poorly understood because they are such heterogeneous mixtures and because multiple techniques for studying their aggregation have not yet been brought to bear in a systematic fashion.

In our group, we work to understand the mechanisms for separation of asphaltenes from a variety of different crude sources using silica gel and ion exchange chromatographies. In addition, different acidic and basic fractions of asphaltenes are characterized by elemental analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ¹³C NMR spectroscopy, X-ray fine structure, and mass spectrometry to develop a very detailed molecular-level picture of these fractions.

Other techniques, including quasielastic light scattering, fast-freeze transmission electron microscopy, and molecular modeling are also being developed and used. The goal is to use experimental and modeling expertise to demonstrate simple experimental measurables to link predictions and observations of asphaltene aggregation.