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The growing demand for new microelectronic devices and pharmaceutical advancements has heightened interest in inkjet printing as a means of high-precision manufacturing technique. This study leverages data-driven analyses to optimize…

Fluid droplets can be induced to move over rigid or flexible surfaces under external or body forces. We describe the effect of variations in material properties of a flexible substrate as a mechanism for motion. In this paper, we consider a…

Recent experimental utilization of liquid substrate in the production of two-dimensional crystals, such as graphene, together with a general interest in amorphous materials, raises the following question: is it beneficial to use a liquid…

Numerous cell-types have shown a remarkable ability to detect and move along gradients in stiffness of an underlying substrate -- a process known as durotaxis. The mechanisms underlying durotaxis are still unresolved, but generally believed…

This paper considers the interaction between two droplets placed on a substrate in immediate vicinity. We show here that when the two droplets are of different fluids and especially when one of the droplet is highly volatile, a wealth of…

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…

We consider two minimal models of active fluid droplets that exhibit complex dynamics including steady motion, deformation, rotation and oscillating motion. First we consider a droplet with a concentration of active contractile matter…

Self-assembly is the underlying building principle of biological systems and represents a promising approach for the future of manufacturing, but the yields are often limited by undesirable metastable states. Meanwhile, annealing methods…

Effective mixing is essential for biochemical reactions. In droplet-based microfluidics, immediate mixing of substances upon contact in the droplet formation stage can greatly enhance the uniformity of chemical reactions. Furthermore, it…

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…

Many objects in nature and industry are wrapped in a thin sheet to enhance their chemical, mechanical, or optical properties. There are similarly a variety of methods for wrapping, from pressing a film onto a hard substrate, to using…

Block copolymers often create droplets when placed on a substrate. Such nanostructured droplets can be arranged into regular microstructured arrays, thereby forming hierarchically organized materials that can be used in microelectronics,…

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…

We describe opportunities and challenges with wireless robotic materials. Robotic materials are multi-functional composites that tightly integrate sensing, actuation, computation and communication to create smart composites that can sense…

Topological defects play a central role in the physics of many materials, including magnets, superconductors and liquid crystals. In active fluids, defects become autonomous particles that spontaneously propel from internal active stresses…

In equilibrium, the physical properties of matter are set by the interactions between the constituents. In contrast, the energy input of the individual components controls the behavior of synthetic or living active matter. Great progress…

We consider a thin droplet that spreads over a flat, horizontal and chemically heterogeneous surface. The droplet is subjected to changes in its volume though a prescribed, arbitrary spatiotemporal function, which varies slowly and vanishes…

The impact of a heavier droplet into a deep pool of lighter liquid is investigated using three-dimensional numerical simulations. Unprecedented to any numerical simulations, we demonstrate that the heavier droplets can hang from the surface…

It has been proposed that during the early steps in the origin of life, small droplets could have formed via the segregation of molecules from complex mixtures by phase separation. These droplets could have provided chemical reaction…

When a droplet gently lands on an atomically smooth substrate, it will most likely contact the underlying surface in about 0.1 s. However, theoretical estimation from fluid mechanics predicts a contact time of 10 to 100 s. What causes this…