In one project, in collaboration with Professor David S. Corti, we study the aqueous dispersion stability of inks and ink-like model colloidal dispersions. The main goal of the detailed experimental and theoretical studies is to improve understanding of the inter-particle forces which cause the dispersions of colloidal particles or nanoparticles to agglomerate, or to remain stable. The project aims in developing innovative theories, models, and simulations, and industrial guidelines on how to control dispersion stability, and ultimately to new ways of making improved inks. We also study the stability of dispersions against sedimentation, and how agglomeration and sedimentation processes are coupled.

In a second project, in collaboration with Professor Bryan Boudouris and several other professors at Purdue, we study how aqueous solutions of surfactants and polymers can be used to increase oil recovery from oil reservoirs, where oil is trapped in porous rocks. The surfactants are used to control the interfacial tension against oil, and the polymers are used to control the viscosity of the aqueous solutions. Moreover, the equilibrium and dynamic phase behavior of water/salt/surfactant/polymer/oil are studied, because they affect the flow behavior in rocks where oil is mobilized, and because they are linked to the interfacial tension behavior.

(see also Web of Science for Franses, E.I.)

Franses, E. I., "Thermodynamics with Chemical Engineering Applications," Cambridge University Press, August 2014; Undergraduate textbook.

Yang, Y.-J., Kelkar, A. Zhu, X., Bai, G., Ng, H.-T, Corti, D. S., and Franses, E. I., "Effect of Sodium Dodecylsulfate Monomers and Micelles on the Stability of Aqueous Dispersions of TiO2 Pigment Nanoparticles Against Agglomeration and Sedimentation," J. Colloid Interface Sci., 450, 434-445 (2015).

Yang, Y.-J., Corti, D. S., and Franses, E. I., "Use of Close-Packed Vesicular Dispersions to Stabilize Colloidal Particle Dispersions Against Sedimentation," Langmuir, 31, 8802-8808 (2015).

Kelkar, A., Franses, E. I. and Corti, D. S., "Nonideal Diffusion Effects, Short-Range Ordering, and Unsteady-State Effects Strongly Affect Brownian Aggregation Rates in Concentrated Dispersions of Interacting Spheres," J. Chem. Phys., 143, 074706 (2015).

Yang, Y.-J., Kelkar, A. Corti, D.S., and Franses, E.I., "Effect of Interparticle Interactions on Agglomeration and Sedimentation Rates of Colloidal Silica Microspheres," Langmuir, 32, 5111-5123 (2016).

Yang, Y.-J., Corti, D.S., and Franses, E.I., "Effect of Triton X-100 on the Stability of Titania Nanoparticles Against Agglomeration and Sedimentation: A Masked Depletion Interaction," Colloids Surfaces A, 516, 296-304 (2017).

Fronczak, S.G., Dong, J., Browne, C. Krenek, E., Franses, E.I., Beaudoin, S.P., and Corti, D.S., "A New "Quasi-Dynamic" Method for Determining the Hamaker Constant of Solids Using an Atomic Force Microscope," Langmuir, 33, 714-725 (2017).