Prof.Giuseppe Battaglia

University College London (UCL)

Abstract

As two liquids, solids, or gases, become immiscible, they form an interface by breaking their intermolecular bonds. Such a rupture gives rise to interfacial energy which alters all thermodynamic parameters of the system. We can exploit such an energy pool to control molecular arrangements and creating one of the most exquisite examples of molecular self-assembly. We do so by synthesising molecules that act as surface active (or surfactant) that contains a chemical signature that makes them compatible with two (or more) immiscible phase. The most common example is the amphiphile a molecule that contains both water-soluble and -insoluble components. This dual nature makes it assembly in water forming both defined nanostructures. I will discuss the use of amphiphiles, and mainly I will focus on polymeric ones where on top of the interfacial energy we can exploit the macromolecular nature to create strong entropic bonds. I will show how these can be used to form micelles,vesicles, or more complex lyotropic phases. I will also show how amphiphiles can be combined into complex mixtures to control both the surface topology and topography. I will conclude showing some application of such interface molecular engineering mostly into healthcare and drug delivery but also as new photonic materials.

Biography

Giuseppe, or as most people call him Beppe, Battaglia is an EPSRC Established Career Fellow and 2018 ERC-CoG investigator, the Chair in Molecular Bionics in the Department of Chemistry and Honorary Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University College London (UCL). Beppe is part of the Institute of Physicsof Living System at UCL and he is the director of the EPSRC/Jeol Centre for Liquid Phase Electron Microscopy. Prior to joining UCL, Beppe held positions as Lecturer -2006, Senior Lecturer -2009 and Professor -2011 in the Departments of Materials Sci. Eng. (2006-2009) and Biomedical Science (2009-2013) at the University of Sheffield. Beppe has published over 100 research articles, reviews and book chapters and he is named inventor in 10 patents. He was awarded the 2009 HFSP Young Investigator Award jointly with Prof A. Engler from UCSD, the 2011 APS/IoP Polymer Physics Exchange Award Lecture, the 2011 GSK Emerging Scientist Award, 2011 ERC Starting Grant, the 2012 Award for special contribution to Polymer Therapeutics, the 2014 RSC Thomas Graham Award Lecture, 2015 SCI/RSC McBain Medal for Colloid Science and the 2016 Anhui 100 Foreign Talent Award.