Gharbi Lab: Soft Matter and Biophysics Laboratory. Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts Boston
The research in Gharbi’s Lab focuses on the design of devices based on the directed assembly of functional nanomaterials and biomaterials within complex fluids. In particular, we are interested in building a research group to develop new procedures for making hybrid materials with tunable functionalities. The goal of our research is to discover new mechanisms to create self-assembled structures that can be used in technological applications including bio-inspired micromachines, microlens arrays, biochemical sensors and self-assembled microrobots. These systems have unique and as yet untapped potential for reconfigurable advanced materials and bioinspired applications.
Please, visit our website to learn more about our research activities!
Research Interests
- Engineering applications of soft and biological materials: microlenses, photonic crystals, metamaterials, devices for energy harvesting and storage, microrobots, bioinspired micromachines
- Properties of materials including soft materials (liquid crystals, polymers, colloidal particles, membranes, thin films, surfactants) and biological materials (active particles, biocolloids, inclusions at lipid membranes, proteins at fluid interfaces)
- Self and directed assembly of nanomaterials and biomaterials
- Interfacial phenomena at simple and complex fluids
- Characterization of nanostructured systems using light scattering and X-Ray techniques
Mohamed Amine Gharbi, PhD 