Related papers: A fast and strong microactuator powered by interna…
Microsystems become part of everyday life but their application is restricted by lack of strong and fast motors (actuators) converting energy into motion. For example, widespread internal combustion engines cannot be scaled down because…
Lack of fast and strong actuators to drive microsystems is well recognized. Electrochemical actuators are considered attractive for many applications but they have long response time (minutes) due to slow gas termination. Here an…
Bulk nanobubbles (NBs) generated electrochemically by short voltage pulses of alternating polarity behave differently from those produced by regular methods. Only bubbles smaller than $200\;$nm are formed in the process and their…
Water electrolysis performed in microsystems with a fast change of voltage polarity produces optically invisible nanobubbles containing H2 and O2 gases. In this form the gases are able to the reverse reaction of water formation. Here we…
Micromotor and nanomotor particles are typically made using dense solid particles that can sediment or be trapped in confined flow environments. Creation of much larger motors should be possible if a very low-density system is used with…
Microbubbles excited by acoustic fields inside water oscillate, and generate acoustic radiation forces and drag-induced acoustic streaming. These forces can be harnessed in various biomedical applications such as targeted drug delivery and…
We present a new evolution of the Very Little Eel-Inspired roBot, the VLEIBot++, a 900-mg swimmer driven by two 10-mg bare high-work density (HWD) actuators, whose functionality is based on the use of shape-memory alloy (SMA) wires. An…
A steady fluid flow, called microstreaming, can be generated in the vicinity of a micro-bubble excited by ultrasound. In this article, we use this phenomenon to assemble and power a microfabricated rotor at rotation speeds as high as 625…
The micromixing process in microfluidic devices is of central importance in quite a few applications, with microfluidic studies on carbon capture and environmental monitoring being two examples. High surface area to volume ratio in…
Micro/nanoliter droplet is capable of achieving versatile applications with tiny volume and substantial surface energy, which is a big plus over bulk liquid. Yet, the contradiction of elaborate manipulation and enough power is still a…
We introduce a new low-power 13-mg microactuator driven by shape-memory alloy (SMA) wires for underwater operation. The development of this device was motivated by the recent creation of microswimmers such as the FRISHBot, WaterStrider,…
This paper reports on our research in developing a micro power generation system based on gas turbine engine and piezoelectric converter. The micro gas turbine engine consists of a micro combustor, a turbine and a centrifugal compressor.…
Using argon as the working fluid in an internal combustion engine holds the potential of substantially enhancing thermal efficiency because of its high specific heat ratio. Burning hydrogen, not with air but with pure oxygen, in a…
Water electrolysis in a microsystem is observed and analyzed on a short-time scale ~10 us. Very unusual properties of the process are stressed. An extremely high current density is observed because the process is not limited by the…
Self-propelled micromotors can efficiently convert ambient energy into mechanical motion, which is of great interest for its potential biomedical applications in delivering therapeutics noninvasively. However, navigating these micromotors…
Ionic polymer actuators, in essence, consist of ion exchange polymers sandwiched between layers of electrodes. They have recently gained recognition as promising candidates for soft actuators due to their lightweight nature, noise-free…
Swelling-induced snap-buckling in a 3D micro hydrogel device, inspired by the insect-trapping action of Venus flytrap, makes it possible to generate astonishingly fast actuation. We demonstrate that elastic energy is effectively stored and…
The concept of creating all-mechanical soft microrobotic systems has great potential to address outstanding challenges in biomedical applications, and introduce more sustainable and multifunctional products. To this end, magnetic fields and…
The backswimmer fly is an aquatic insect, capable of regulating its buoyancy underwater. Its abdomen is covered with hemoglobin cells, used to bind and release oxygen, reversibly. Upon entering water, the fly entraps an air bubble in a…
We use a three dimensional hydrodynamical code to simulate the effect of energy injection on cooling flows in the intracluster medium. Specifically, we compare a simulation of a 10$^{15}$ $M_\odot$ cluster with radiative cooling only, with…