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