Department of Polymer Science

Research Interests

• Spectroscopic techniques to study structure and dynamics at surfaces and interfaces; relationship between adhesion, adhesion hysterisis, and friction; structure and dynamics of molecules in confined geometry; surface melting and surface freezing; developing synthetic adhesives using aligned carbon nanotubes inspired by Gecko foothairs; electrical and optical applications of aligned carbon nanotubes.

Contact Information

• Dr. Ali Dhinojwala
  The University of Akron
  Department of Polymer Science
  Akron, Ohio 44325-3909
• Voice: (330) 972-6246
• Fax: (330) 972-5290

 Publications

• Ocko, B.; Dhinojwala, A.; Dalliant, J. “Comment on How Water Meets an Hydrophobic Surface” Phys. Rev. Lett. 2008, 101, 039601.

• 59)  Niewiarowski, P.; Lopez, S.; Ge, L.; Hagan, E.; Dhinojwala, A. “Sticky Gecko Feet-The Role of Temperature and Humidity” 2008, PLoS One, 3, e2192.

•  58) Prasad, S.; Jiang, Z.; Sinha, S.; Dhinojwala, A. “Partial Crystallinity in Alkyl Side Chain Polymers Dictates Surface Freezing” accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett.

•  57) Sethi, S.; Ge, L.; Ci, L. Ajayan, P. M. ; Dhinojwala, A.  “Gecko-Inspired Carbon Nanotube-Based Self-Cleaning Adhesives” Nano letters 2008, 8, 822-825.

•  56) Li, G; Prasad, S.; Dhinojwala, A. “Dynamic Interfacial Tension at the Oil/Surfactant-water Interface” Langmuir, 2007, 23, 9929-9932.

•  55) Ge, L.; Sethi, S.; Ci, L.; Ajayan, P.M.; Dhinojwala, A. “Carbon Nanotube-Based Synthetic Gecko Tapes” Proc Natl Acad Sci 2007, 104, 10792-10795.

•  54) Yurdumakan, B.; Nanjundiah, K.; Harp, G. P.; Dhinojwala, A. “Origin of Higher Friction for Elastomers Sliding on Glassy Polymers” J. Phys. Chem. C 2007, 111, 960-965.

•  53) Harp, G.P.; Rangwalla, H.; Yeganeh, M. S.; Dhinojwala, A. “Coupling of Interfacial Motion at Polystyrene-Alkane Interface” Macromolecules 2006, 39, 7464-7466.

•  52) Prasad, S, Hanne, L.; Dhinojwala, A. “Surface Segregation Induced by Surface Freezing” Macromolecules 2006, 39, 7467-7470.