AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Nanometer-scale Science and Technology Tuesday Sessions
       Session NS1-TuM

Invited Paper NS1-TuM3
Manipulating Liquids on the Tunable Nanostructured Surfaces

Tuesday, November 14, 2006, 8:40 am, Room 2016

Session: Nanoscale Structures and Characterization II
Presenter: T.N. Krupenkin, Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies
Authors: T.N. Krupenkin, Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies
A. Taylor, Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies
P.R. Kolodner, Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies
M.S. Hodes, Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies
J. Aizenberg, Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies
Correspondent: Click to Email
An ability to manipulate microscopic volumes of liquids with the high precision becomes increasingly important with the recent progress in micro- and nanofluidics and its rapid penetration in various industrial applications. Dynamic control over the interaction of liquids with the solid substrate constitutes a very important aspect of this problem. Nanostructured solid surfaces offer a promising way to achieve this goal. In this talk we discuss recently demonstrated dynamically tunable nanostructured surfaces. The behavior of these surfaces can be reversibly switched between superhydrophobic and hydrophilic states by the application of electrical voltage and current. The proposed approach potentially allows novel methods of manipulating microscopically small volumes of liquids. This includes almost frictionless liquid transport, the ability to precisely control droplet shape and position, as well as dynamic control over the penetration on liquids through the nanostructured layer. The obtained results potentially open new and exciting opportunities in chemical microreactors, bio/chemical lab-on-a-chip devices, optofluidics, thermal management of microelectronics, and many other areas.