Identifying Nanoscale Structures Responsible for Droplet-to-Particle Morphological Transitions with Acoustic Levitation SANS

Spray drying and structured powders formation underpin sizeable industries in the Formulations sector, estimated to turn £180 billion per annum in the UK, and with significant growth potential. Despite its significance and industrial impact, the drying of surfactant solution droplets in acoustic levitation, an analogous environment to spray drying, has not yet been examined from the molecular to the macroscale, correlating the accompanying conformational and phase changes to morphological shape changes and stratification. These complex challenges require a step change in experimentation to enable the predictive engineering of "smart" and "green" particles. This proposal seeks to address this challenge by studying the drying of acoustically levitated droplets, containing model surfactants with TOF-SANS and simultaneously horizontal, polarised, optical microscopy

喷雾干燥与结构化粉末制备是配方领域的核心支柱产业，据估算英国本地年产值可达1800亿英镑，且具备可观的增长潜力。尽管该产业意义重大且工业影响力显著，但针对与喷雾干燥环境类似的声学悬浮体系中表面活性剂溶液液滴的干燥过程，目前尚未有研究从分子到宏观尺度展开，将伴随发生的构象变化、相变与液滴形貌改变及分层现象建立关联。此类复杂挑战亟需实验手段实现突破性革新，方能实现“智能”与“绿色”颗粒的预测性工程化制备。本研究拟通过以下方案应对该挑战：对搭载模型表面活性剂的声学悬浮液滴的干燥过程展开研究，同步采用飞行时间小角中子散射（TOF-SANS）与横向偏振光学显微镜进行表征。