Related papers: Programming droplet motion using metamaterials

We consider wave propagation along fluid-loaded structures which take the form of an elastic plate augmented by an array of resonators forming a metasurface, that is, a surface structured with sub-wavelength resonators. Such surfaces have…

The transport of small quantities of liquid on a solid surface is inhibited by the resistance to motion caused by the contact between the liquid and the solid. To overcome such resistance, motion can be externally driven through gradients…

Controlling fluid droplets efficiently in the microscale is of great interest both from a basic science and a technology perspective. We have designed and developed a general-purpose, highly scalable microfluidic control strategy through a…

Within a decade of fruitful developments, metamaterials became a prominent area of research, bridging theoretical and applied electrodynamics, electrical engineering and material science. Being man-made structures, metamaterials offer a…

Self-propelled droplet jumping during condensation has attractive prospects for energy harvesting, water collection and thermal management, but its real-life applications are greatly limited to the challenge of enabling a sustainable…

Spatial tailoring of the material constitutive properties is a well-known strategy to mold the local flow of given observables in different physical domains. Coordinate-transformation-based methods (e.g., transformation optics) offer a…

We present a microfluidic platform for two-dimensional manipulation of water droplets immersed in bulk oil-based ferrofluid. Although non-magnetic, the droplets are exclusively controlled by magnetic fields, without any pressure-driven…

Liquid drops on soft solids generate strong deformations below the contact line, resulting from a balance of capillary and elastic forces. The movement of these drops may cause strong, potentially singular dissipation in the soft solid.…

Harnessing the rich nonlinear dynamics of highly-deformable materials has the potential to unlock the next generation of functional smart materials and devices. However, unlocking such potential requires effective strategies to spatially…

A flexible wave localization is investigated using a spatial-temporal modulation of point defects along the periodic array of electromechanical local resonators of a piezoelectric bimorph beam. By changing the electrical resonance of…

Shape-morphing metamaterials enable adaptive structures capable of complex functional deformations, with applications ranging from reconfigurable structures and soft robotics to medical devices. However, their design remains challenging due…

Exploring the dynamical response of mechanical metamaterials has gathered increasing attention in the last decades, enabling the design of microstructures exotically interacting with elastic waves (focusing, channeling, band-gaps, negative…

We use molecular dynamics simulations to study the evaporation of particle-laden droplets on a heated surface. The droplets are composed of a Lennard-Jones fluid containing rigid particles which are spherical sections of an atomic lattice,…

We numerically study the dynamics of a passive fluid droplet confined within a microchannel whose walls are covered with a thin layer of active gel. The latter represents a fluid of extensile material modelling, for example, a suspension of…

Metamaterials offer a powerful way to manipulate a variety of physical fields ranging from wave fields (electromagnetic field, acoustic field, elastic wave, etc.), static fields (static magnetic field, static electric field) to diffusive…

Tuning the mass density and bulk modulus independently is the key to manipulate the propagation of sound wave. Acoustic metamaterials provide a feasible method to realize various acoustic parameters. However, the relevant studies are mainly…

We describe a setup to perform systematic studies on the spreading of droplets of complex fluids under microgravity conditions. Tweaking the gravitational acceleration under which droplets are deposited provides access to different regimes…

Reprogrammable mechanical metamaterials, composed of a lattice of discretely adaptive elements, are emerging as a promising platform for mechanical intelligence. To operate in unknown environments, such structures must go beyond passive…

Tunable metasurfaces enable active and on-demand control over optical wavefronts through reconfigurable scattering of resonant nanostructures. Here, we present novel insights inspired by mechanical metamaterials to achieve giant tunability…

Droplets move on substrates with a spatio-temporal wettability pattern as generated, for example, on light-switchable surfaces. To study such cases, we implement the boundary-element method to solve the governing Stokes equations for the…