Prof. Tingrui Pan
Department of Biomedical Engineering, UC Davis
March 29, 2011 | 12:00 to 01:00 | 540 Cory Hall, DOP Center Conference Room
Host: David Horsley
Superhydrophobicity, also known as Lotus effect, has attracted numerous academic and industrial interests since its original discovery in the late 1980s. The remarkable water repellency and interfacial metastability on the natural superhydrophobic surfaces lead to discovery of intriguing physicochemical phenomena and principles at the micro-nanoscopic interface. For its further application to micro-nanoengineered systems, it is of particular importance to enable high-precision geometrical definition of superhydrophobic features as well as process compatibility with conventional micromachining. Recently, we have introduced several techniques to fabricate superhydrophobic micropatterns, using photosensitive nanocomposites, lift-off coating, electrochemical plating, or laser machining. Under the Cassie-Baxter state, we have been able to reliably produce low energy surfaces or coatings with engineered micro-nanoscopic roughness on various substrates, of which maximal contact angle of water yields above 165 degrees. Furthermore, with extreme contrast between superhydrophobic micropatterns and underlying substrates, open surface microfluidic networks can devised in a single-processing step. Unlike the conventional counterpart, surface microfluidics incorporates both intrinsic resistive solid-liquid and elastic frictionless gas-liquid interfaces monolithic substrate, leading to distinct three-dimensional and time-dependent manipulations of the Specifically, spatiotemporal dependence of microflow patterns on the planar fluidic surfaces has theoretically analyzed and experimentally characterized. Utilizing the unconventional interface-enabled flow-pressure characteristics, a series of novel surface fluidic operations, including microflow regulation, droplet micropumps, analog-to-digital switching, and interfacial sensing, have been demonstrated. Website:
Interested in nominating someone to speak at the BSAC Technology Seminar? We welcome you to submit a speaker nomination here