Advances towards programmable droplet transport on solid surfaces and its applications
Droplets moving on solid surfaces are at the heart of many phenomena of fundamental and applied interest in chemistry, physics and materials science. On the fundamental side, as they are often subject to evaporation, these droplets are a beautiful and complex example of non-equilibrium physical chem...
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| Published in | Chemical Society reviews Vol. 49; no. 22; pp. 7879 - 7892 |
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| Main Authors | , , |
| Format | Journal Article |
| Language | English |
| Published |
London
Royal Society of Chemistry
21.11.2020
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| Subjects | |
| Online Access | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Droplets moving on solid surfaces are at the heart of many phenomena of fundamental and applied interest in chemistry, physics and materials science. On the fundamental side, as they are often subject to evaporation, these droplets are a beautiful and complex example of non-equilibrium physical chemistry, whose explanation and understanding still capture the imagination of multiple researchers around the world. In technology, droplets on solid surfaces are of widespread use for handling small amounts of matter, for harvesting energy, for manufacturing materials and for sensing chemical and biological analytes. A key underlying factor of their widespread applicability is the degree of control that can be achieved over their transport on surfaces. This tutorial review provides an overview of recent progress towards the programmable transport of droplets on solid surfaces. We will first present the physical principles behind the main experimental strategies for droplet transport. We will then review the most inspiring applications where these strategies have been employed in chemistry, materials science and engineering. Finally, we will outline possible future research directions for the programmable transport of droplets. Beyond projecting the reader at the forefront of this exciting field of physical chemistry, we believe that this tutorial review will inspire diverse, multidisciplinary scientific communities to devise novel ways of manipulating the flow of matter, energy and information on solid surfaces using programmable droplets as vessels.
We review progress towards the programmable transport of droplets on surfaces together with its applications in chemistry and materials science. |
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| Bibliography: | Dr Giorgio Volpe is a Lecturer in Physical Chemistry and group leader of the soft active matter laboratory at University College London. He obtained his PhD in Photonics at ICFO - The Institute of Photonic Sciences in Barcelona (Spain) in 2012. His current research focuses on studying the emergence of non-equilibrium phenomena in soft matter for applications in materials science and healthcare. To date, he has published more than 30 peer-reviewed research articles in high-impact journals for the fields of active matter, soft matter and photonics. Robert Malinowski has recently completed his PhD at University College London in the dynamic control of evaporating droplets under Dr Volpe and Prof. Parkin's joint supervision, where he investigated a new method of controlling the deposition of materials from both stationary and mobile droplets. Prior to this, he carried out his undergraduate degree at Imperial College London, where his master's focussed on the catalysts and mechanisms of the oligomerisation of ethylene. He then worked in industry in both pharmaceuticals and polycarbonate catalysis before starting his PhD. His current research interests are in chemical and physical non-equilibrium systems, and their combination. Professor Ivan Parkin is Dean of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at University College London. He is a materials chemist with particular interest in forming functional coatings. His group work on a wide range of areas including superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic coatings, antimicrobial devices and energy storage materials. He has been awarded 9 prizes and medals from learned bodies and he is a member of the Academia Europaea. ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 14 content type line 23 |
| ISSN: | 0306-0012 1460-4744 1460-4744 |
| DOI: | 10.1039/d0cs00268b |