Dr. Viktor Chikan (Associate Professor of Chemistry):  Faraday Rotation of magnetic/Plasmonic Nanoparticles in Pulsed Magnetic Fields

Email:  chikan@ksu.edu 

Utilizing magnetic nanoparticles to trigger biological processes in intense magnetic fields will provide a next important development steps towards biomedical applications. Here we are exploring the rotation of sub 20 nm colloidal magnetic nanoparticles via Faraday and Cotton Mouton effect. The project involves the development of an intense (1-2 Tesla) rotating magnetic field apparatus consisting of two high voltage Helmholtz coil. The first stage of the project is to synchronize the firing of triggered spark gaps to produce the needed phase shift on the Helmholtz coils for producing transient rotating magnetic fields. The rotating magnetic field will be characterized and calibrated via the Faraday effect in a known solvent (water). In the next stage, colloidal magnetic iron and cobalt nanoparticles will be synthesized with 10-20 nm size. The Faraday and Cotton Mouton effect of the nanoparticle solution will be studied in the liner and rotating magnetic fields. The results from this research and the rotating magnetic field apparatus will be utilized in a separate project in the Chikan group that aims developing drug delivery systems based liposomes loaded with magnetic nanoparticles.

Email: schmit@phys.ksu.edu

Protein-protein interactions play an important role in living cells (cellular signaling, metabolism) and in the lab (drug discovery, protein stability).  These interactions depend on both the chemistry of the protein and environmental variables like temperature and pH.  In this project we will build theoretical models for how the chemistry and environment determine the strength of the bond that forms between proteins.  This will involve the analysis of intermolecular contacts within protein crystals to separate the roles of short-range hydrophobic interactions and long range electrostatic forces.

Dr. Chris Sorensen:  Nanoparticle Solubility

We have developed chemical methods to make nanoparticles (NPs) of uniform size, typically about 5 nm in diameter. Because of this size uniformity, suspensions of these NPs act like solutions with temperature dependent solubility. This project would use our chemistry lab to synthesize these NPs and then measure the solubility of NPs in aqueous solutions as a function of temperature, pH and salt concentration. Thermodynamic analysis will yield information about the NP interparticle potential which will be compared to our current theoretical efforts. This project would be good for a hands-on experimentalist with interest in both physics and chemistry.  

Dr. Chris Sorensen:  Electrophoresis in Nanoparticle Solutions  

We have discovered that solutions of 5 nm gold nanoparticles in toluene move when an electric field is applied to them, electrophoresis. Toluene without the nanoparticles does not move in the same field. The volume fraction of nanoparticles is very small ca. 10^-4, so the large effect we observe is surprising. We do not know the mechanism of this effect and there seems to be no reports of such an effect reported in the literature. Thus we need systematic experiments to thoroughly characterize the effect and then hypothesis driven work to uncover the mechanisms. Good exploratory science.