Related papers: Smart mechanically tunable surfaces with shape mem…
We report on a comprehensive study of the unique adhesive properties of mats of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) nanofibers produced by electrospinning. Fibers are deposited on glass, varying the diameter and the relative orientation of the…
We designed a multilayered self-adaptive absorber/emitter metamaterial, which can smartly switch between a solar absorber and a radiative cooler based on temperature change. The switching capability is facilitated by the phase change…
Controlling materials to create and tune topological phases of matter could potentially be used to explore new phases of topological quantum matter and to create novel devices where the carriers are topologically protected. It has been…
Machine learning (ML) is shown to predict new alloys and their performances in a high dimensional, multiple-target-property design space that considers chemistry, multi-step processing routes, and characterization methodology variations. A…
Technologies that require surface wetting or evaporative cooling require the ability to efficiently spread fluids across large areas, as increased wetted surface area increases evaporative flux. However, the intrinsic surfacial and bulk…
Mechanical metamaterials are structures designed to exhibit an exotic response, such as topological soft modes at a surface. Here we explore single-material 3D prints of these topological structures by translating a ball-and-spring model…
Research in soft manipulators has significantly enhanced object grasping capabilities, thanks to their adaptability to various shapes and sizes. Applying this technology to on-orbit servicing, especially during the capture and containment…
The wettability of surfaces determines their antifouling, antifogging, anti-icing, and self-cleaning properties as well as their usability for sensing, oil-water separation, water collection, and water purification. Solvent-free…
Ice-templating, also referred to as freeze-casting, is a process exploiting unidirectional crystallization of ice to structure macroporous materials from colloidal solutions. Commonly applied to inorganic and polymeric materials, we employ…
In this two-part study we investigate the phase behaviour of a fluid spatially confined in a semi-infinite rectangular pore formed by three orthogonal walls and connected to a reservoir maintaining constant values of pressure and…
This paper reports the dynamic wetting behavior and heat transfer characteristics for impinging droplets on heated bi-phobic surfaces (superhydrophobic matrix with hydrophobic spots). A non-patterned superhydrophobic and a sticky…
Electrowetting on textured and lubricant infused surfaces is conventionally expected to promote enhanced droplet spreading by reducing apparent contact angles. Contrary to this intuition, we report rapid tangential droplet ejection at…
Topological transitions are fundamental phenomena in electronics, photonics, and quantum technologies. However, the scalability and tunability of Topological transitions in these systems have still been constrained by their material…
Structures with artificial mechanical properties, often called mechanical metamaterials, exhibit divergent yet tunable performance. Various types of mechanical metamaterials have been proposed, which harness light or magnetic interactions,…
Clarifying the factors that control the contact angle of a liquid on a solid substrate is a long-standing scientific problem pertinent across physics, chemistry and materials science. Progress has been hampered by the lack of a…
Topological pumping supplies a robust mechanism to steer waves across a sample without being affected by disorders and defects. For the first time, we demonstrate the pumping of elastic surface waves, achieved by a smart patterning of a…
In this work, we study lattice structures that exhibit a bistable behavior, i. e., they can snap from one stable state to another, and are also completely reversible, capable of reverting back to its original state through a heat treatment.…
Recent success in synthesizing thermally stable nanofluids at low costs is a significant breakthrough in the evolution of volumetric absorption based solar thermal systems. However, we have yet not been able to clearly identify the range of…
The ability to design and fabricate materials with tailored mechanical properties, combined with immunity to damage, is a frontier of materials engineering. For example, materials which are characterized by elastic properties that depend on…
Experimental methods allow the shape and chemical composition of solid surfaces to be controlled at a mesoscopic level. Exposing such structured substrates to a gas close to coexistence with its liquid can produce quite distinct adsorption…