Soft Nanotechnologies & Applications

An Interdisciplinary Integrative Forum on
Self-Assembly, Nanometer to Micron Scale Structured Fluids and Soft Materials

Symposium Co-Chairs
Fiona Case Case Scientific, NSTI Soft Nanotech Coordinator, US	Jan Sumerel Dimatix, Inc.
Confimed Invited Speakers
Nanotechnology at BASF - Precursor Nano-Structures in Crystallization Processes, Jens Rieger, Research Director, BASF Advanced Research Initiative at Harvard, BASF, Germany Massimo Noro Unilever R&D Port Sunlight, United Kingdom Hans Fraaije Chief Science Officer Culgi BV, The Netherlands Self-Assembly and Properties of Block Copolypeptide Materials Timothy J. Deming Professor and Chair, Department of Bioengineering, UCLA	David A. Weitz Professor Harvard University Wolfgang P. Meier Professor of Chemistry University of Basel, Switzerland Alois K. Popp Unilever R&D Vlaardingen, The Netherlands

Synopsis

Many soft or fluid consumer products, such as foods, paint, lubricants, detergents, personal care products, and cosmetics, contain nanometer to micron scale structures. Nanostructured fluids are also key in industrial processes such as enhanced oil-recovery and emulsion polymerization. These structures (such as micelles, vesicles, emulsions and lamella) are formed by the spontaneous self-assembly of natural or synthetic surfactants, block copolymers, or colloids. In many cases complex mixtures of different materials are required to create the desired structure and performance. These complex materials are difficult to design, and challenging to characterize; but scientists in these industries, and in the academic groups focusing on this area, have developed considerable expertise.

Members of the broadly defined nanotechnology community are also increasingly interested in self-assembly and nanostructured fluids, which have the potential to provide robust and inexpensive strategies for creating nanoscale materials. For example, IBM recently highlighted the potential for block-copolymer self-assembly to create nanometer size structures for electronics applications.

The Nanotech conferences have a tradition of bringing together disparate groups to discover their common interests and shared challenges in fabricating, characterizing, and utilizing materials with nanometer to micron scale structure. This symposium will continue the tradition by bringing a wide range of people from industry, academia, and the broader nanotechnology community, with interests in self-assembly, nanometer to micron scale structured fluids and soft materials.

The Soft Nanotechnology sessions will be coordinated with the Polymer Nanotechnology Symposium and the Nanoparticles in Soft Materials: Colloids Symposium.

Topics & Application Areas

• Bio-inspiration for soft nanotechnolgy
• Adhesion and nanotribology
• Stimuli-sensitive particles and assemblies
• Directing nanoparticle formation using soft nanotechnology
• Structured food design
• Formulating nanostructured materials
• Modeling and simulation of soft nanostructured materials
• Other

For more information, please contact Fiona Case

Impacted Industries

Poster Contest

Poster presentations accepted into this symposium will be automatically entered into the Soft Matter Poster Contest. Entries will be judged during the poster sessions at Nanotech 2008 by a team of Soft Nanotechnology experts from industry, the NSTI, and the Royal Society of Chemistry. The poster reporting the most exciting new discovery or application of soft nanostructured materials will receive a subscription to the RSC Soft Matter Journal.

Journal Submissions

Soft Matter Journal

Selected Nanotech Proceedings papers will be reviewed and invited into Soft Matter.

For consideration into Soft Matter, please select the “Submit to RSC Soft Matter Journal” button during the on-line submission procedure. Please note that you may only select a single journal during the submission process.