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Inexpensive, portable lab-on-a-chip devices would revolutionize fields like environmental monitoring and global health, but current microfluidic chips are tethered to extensive off-chip hardware. Insects, however, are self-contained and…
Emulsion droplets trapped in an ultrasonic levitator behave in two ways that solid spheres do not: (1) Individual droplets spin rapidly about an axis parallel to the trapping plane, and (2) coaxially spinning droplets form long chains…
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,…
Curable hydrogels have tunable properties that make them well-suited for applications in drug delivery, cell therapies, and 3D bioprinting. Advances in microfluidic droplet generation enable rapid fabrication of polymer-filled droplets.…
Hypothesis: A broad range of phenomena, such as emulsification and emulsion stability, foam formation or liquid evaporation, are closely related to the dynamics of adsorbing colloidal particles. Elucidation of the mechanisms implied is key…
Internal recirculation in a moving droplet plays an important role in several droplet-based microfluidic devices as it enhances mixing, chemical reaction and heat transfer. The occurrence of fluid slip at the wall, which becomes prominent…
The directed self-assembly of colloidal nanoparticles (NPs) using external fields guides the formation of sophisticated hierarchical materials but becomes less effective with decreasing particle size. As an alternative, electron-beam-driven…
Biomolecular condensates are complex droplets comprising diverse molecules that interact using various mechanisms. Condensation is often driven by short-ranged attraction, but net charges can also mediate long-ranged repulsion. Using…
The instabilities of fluid interfaces represent both a limitation and an opportunity for the fabrication of small-scale devices. Just as non-uniform capillary pressures can destroy micro-electrical mechanical systems (MEMS), so they can…
Droplet interface bilayers are a convenient model system to study the physio-chemical properties of phospholipid bilayers, the major component of the cell membrane. The mechanical response of these bilayers to various external mechanical…
We study the self-propulsion of spherical droplets as simplified hydrodynamic models of swimming microorganisms or artificial microswimmers. In contrast to approaches, which start from active velocity fields produced by the system, we…
Flows with deformable interfaces are commonly controlled by applying an external field or modifying the boundaries that interact with the fluid, but realizing such solutions can be demanding or impractical in various scenarios. Here, we…
The so-called "Kelvin water dropper" is a simple experiment demonstrating the spontaneous appearance of induced free charge in droplets emitted through a tube. As Lord Kelvin explained, water droplets spontaneously acquire a net charge…
We report an experimental study on the manipulation of colloidal particles in a drop sitting on a hydrogel. The manipulation is achieved by diffusiophoresis, which describes a directed motion of particles induced by solute gradients. By…
Morphogenesis emerges from dynamic feedback among geometry, mechanics, and chemistry; however, disentangling these contributions in living systems remains challenging. Here, we focus on the interplay between geometry and mechanics by…
Biological tissues exhibit complex behaviors with their dynamics often resembling inert soft matter such as liquids, polymers, colloids, and liquid crystals. These analogies enable physics-based approaches for investigations of emergent…
As shown by Ganan-Calvo and co-workers, a free liquid jet can be compressed in iameter through gas-dynamic forces exerted by a co-flowing gas, obviating the need for a solid nozzle to form a microscopic liquid jet and thereby alleviating…
Wettability is the affinity of a liquid for a solid surface. For energetic reasons, macroscopic drops of liquid are nearly spherical away from interfaces with solids, and any local deformations due to molecular-scale surface interactions…
A fluid droplet suspended in an extensional flow of moderate intensity may break into pieces, depending on the amplitude of the initial droplet deformation. In subcritical uniaxial extensional flow the non-breaking base state is linearly…
Trapping and manipulation of small particles underlies many scientific and technological applications. Recently, the precise manipulation of multiple small particles was demonstrated using a Stokes trap that relies only on fluid flow…