Research Projects
Wound Care
Modern wound dressings are designed to protect the wound, absorb fluid, and stay comfortably in place on the skin. Most of them include an absorbent layer, a gentle adhesive, and a protective backing. To make these dressings easy to apply and remove, many manufacturers use pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs), which stick with light pressure and do not require heat, solvents, or chemical activation.
However, designing adhesives for skin is not straightforward. A dressing may not stick well enough, or it may adhere too strongly and cause discomfort or skin damage during removal. These challenges can depend on the adhesive formulation, the condition of the skin, and differences from person to person.
During my time at Coloplast in Denmark, I worked on improving PSA-based wound dressings by fine-tuning adhesive formulations. My focus was on making these products more reliable, comfortable, and user-friendly, especially for real healthcare settings where both performance and patient comfort matter.
Pressure Sensitive Adhesive
During my postdoctoral research at ESPCI Paris Tech, I studied soft, nanostructured materials used as pressure-sensitive adhesives. These adhesives are widely used because they can bond to a surface with light pressure and are simple to apply.
My research focused on understanding how these adhesives detach from surfaces. I looked at how both the internal structure of the adhesive and its interaction with the surface influence debonding. In particular, I studied how cracks form and grow as the adhesive separates, and how much energy is involved in that process.
As part of this work, I developed a two-dimensional visualization technique to observe crack growth in acrylic PSAs. This method allowed me to track the movement of the crack tip and measure the energy released during detachment. The goal was to better understand what makes an adhesive strong, reliable, and easier to control during use.
Nanoindentation
During my postdoctoral research at the Australian National University, I investigated how silicon responds to highly localized mechanical pressure. Silicon is best known as the material behind modern electronics, but its properties can change significantly when it is mechanically deformed at very small scales.
I used nanoindentation, atomic force microscopy (AFM), micro-Raman spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to study these changes. My work showed that when pressure is applied, silicon can transform from its usual diamond-cubic structure into a metallic phase known as β-Sn silicon. When the pressure is released, it may transform into other less conductive forms or become amorphous, depending on the loading and unloading conditions.
One interesting part of this research was understanding how the speed of unloading affects the final structure of silicon. Rapid unloading often caused the silicon to become amorphous, while other conditions allowed further phase changes to occur. These findings helped show how mechanical force can be used to influence silicon’s electrical properties at the nanoscale.
Tribology
During my PhD at Iowa State University, I studied how biobased polymers and composites perform under friction and wear. I was especially interested in materials derived from natural oils, such as soybean oil and tung oil, as more sustainable alternatives to petroleum-based polymers.
My research explored how these materials behave when they are rubbed against other surfaces, and how their structure affects their durability. I used techniques such as ball-on-flat tribometry, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and contact profilometry to study wear resistance, surface changes, and frictional behavior.
I also compared these biobased materials with conventional epoxy resins and found a clear relationship between wear volume and crosslink density. This work showed that renewable, biobased polymers can be designed with strong mechanical and tribological performance, making them promising candidates for practical engineering applications.
