High Salinity and High Temperature Stable Colloidal Silica Nanoparticles with Wettability Alteration Ability for EOR Applications.

The stability of nanoparticles at reservoir conditions is a key for a successful application of nanofluids for any oilfield operations, e.g., enhanced oil recovery (EOR).

Experimental Investigation of Stability of Silica Nanoparticles at Reservoir Conditions for Enhanced Oil-Recovery Applications.

To be effective enhanced oil-recovery (EOR) agents, nanoparticles must be stable and be transported through a reservoir. However, the stability of a nanoparticle suspension at reservoir salinity and temperature is still a challenge and how it is affected by reservoir rocks and crude oils is not well understood. In this work, for the first time, the effect of several nanoparticle treatment approaches on the stability of silica nanoparticles at reservoir conditions (in the presence of reservoir rock and crude oil) was investigated for EOR applications.

Formation of Icephobic Surface with Micron-Scaled Hydrophobic Heterogeneity on Polyurethane Aerospace Coating.

Development of an anti-icing surface on a desired industrial coating patch/object has been the persistent challenge to several industries, such as aviation and wind power. For this aim, performing surface modification to implement the icephobic property on existing commercial coatings is important for practical applications. This work accomplishes an icephobic coating overlying a PPG aerospace polyurethane coating.

Shaping nanofiltration channels in a carbonaceous membrane via controlling the pyrolysis atmosphere.

This work investigates the effect of atmosphere on pyrolysis of a polymer matrix (precursor) for directing its transformation towards more disordered graphene species and smaller graphitic nanograins. These two structural characteristics are crucial to the generation of nano-channels (NCs) pertinent to nanofiltration (NF). Two measures are explored hereby to conduct the study: varying the pyrolysis atmosphere and implementing highly dispersed nickel atomic clusters (Ni-clusters) in the coating matrix undergoing pyrolysis.

Porous SiO Hollow Spheres as a Solar Reflective Pigment for Coatings.

This study starts with the synthesis of silica hollow spheres (HSs) by utilizing in situ synthesized polystyrene (PS) microspheres as the template for the deposition of a silica (SiO) shell, followed by a slow gasification step in air to remove the PS core. The size of HS and the thickness of the porous SiO shell are tuned by varying the synthesis conditions of the PS latex and those of the sol-gel deposition, respectively. Various HS powder samples are characterized by ultraviolet-visible-near infrared (UV-vis-NIR) spectroscopy to determine their diffuse reflectance.

PolyPEGA with predetermined molecular weights from enzyme-mediated radical polymerization in water.

The preparation of acrylic polymers with predetermined molecular weights using metalloenzymes as catalysts, ascorbic acid as reducing agent and alkyl halides as initiators is reported. The mechanism of polymerization resembles an ARGET ATRP process.

Organic polymer composites as robust, non-covalent supports of metal salts.

A novel organic polymer composite for the encapsulation of metal catalysts and applications to synthesis are described here.

Controlled polymerization and self-assembly of a supramolecular star polymer with a guanosine quadruplex core.

A novel supramolecular star polymer is reported, which can be prepared either from atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of a self-assembled initiator or from self-assembly of a guanosine-capped linear polymer.