Congratulations to Amanda Stefin (advisor Dr. Ali Dhinojwala) who recently won the Company's Choice Poster Presentation Sponsored by Lord at the Polymer Initiative of Northeast Ohio (PiNO) Conference on June 14, 2019.
She received this $1,000 award for her poster titled “Characterizing Acid-Base Interactions of Surface Hydroxylated Alumina".
Abstract: Macroscopic phenomena such as adhesion, friction, wetting, self-assembly, and adsorption arise from interactions between individual molecules of two different media. In this study, a second order non-linear optical technique, sum frequency generation spectroscopy (SFG), was used to study acid-base interactions of surface hydroxylated alumina in contact with a series of organic liquids. The frequency shifts observed in the SFG spectra were used in the Badger-Bauer equation to calculate the enthalpy of interaction (ΔHint). The proclivity of alumina surface hydroxyl groups to undergo acid-base interactions can be determined by the integration of ΔHint into the Drago-Wayland equation. The interaction strength can be predicted by this method for different interfaces, impacting fields such as biochemistry and tribology.
PiNO is a one-day conference that allows students seeking internships, co-ops, or full-time employment to present posters and network with industry representatives from numerous companies. For more information, visit http://www.pinoconference.com/
Congratulations Amanda!