Superior—Two UW-Eau Claire students received the Tim Higgins Innovation Award for their student poster at the WiSys SPARK Symposium in July.  The Tim Higgins Innovation Award is named in honor of Tim Higgins, Regent Emertius of the Universities of Wisconsin, who is a tireless supporter of the Universities of Wisconsin and the research and innovation happening on those campuses daily.

The Student Poster Showcase gave students the opportunity to present a research poster to SPARK attendees and a panel of faculty, staff, and industry judges.

Carl Lundgren and Matthew Humphrey of UW-Eau Claire received the award and $500 for their poster, titled, “Using Stimuli-Responsive Polymers to Improve the Dispersion of Titanium Dioxide in Architectural Coatings.” Their faculty advisor is Elizabeth Glogowski, a research professor in materials science and biomedical engineering.  

Project description: “This research aims to reduce the amount of titanium dioxide required for architectural coating formulations by improving titanium dioxide dispersion using stimuli-responsive block copolymers. Titanium dioxide is a high-cost and high-volume component required to produce opacity in architectural coating formulations; by improving the dispersion of titanium dioxide the volume and therefore cost and environmental impact of titanium dioxide in formulations can be significantly reduced. The demand for better water-based paints grows globally due to the environmental cost and regulations surrounding oil-based paints and the processing of titanium. This research uses stimuli-responsive polymers, which change properties in response to external triggers such as pH, to improve dispersion of titanium dioxide particles. In this research, testing is done qualitatively on Leneta charts to observe different properties such as opacity, gloss, and titanium dioxide dispersion. Other properties are observed using secondary testing on the films applied on Leneta charts. Maintaining coating properties while decreasing titanium dioxide loading is required for commercial adoption of this technology. Allowing paint manufacturers to reduce the amount of titanium dioxide that needs to be used will lower the overall cost and improve performance of water-based paint formulation. If this technology is implemented industry-wide, it could lead to a global reduction in titanium dioxide mining and processing.”

To learn more about this year’s WiSys SPARK Symposium, click here.