Huron Tu
Pronouns: he/him
Research Mentor(s): Albert Liu
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Chemical Engineering / Engineering
Program:
Authors: Huron Tu, Sungwan Park, Albert T. Liu
Session: Session 1: 9:00 am – 9:50 am
Poster: 43
Abstract
A recent point of interest within interfacial science has been the creation of large, multi-tiered systems of mutually interacting particles mimicking the hierarchical structure and complex functions of multicellular life. The design and construction of such macroscopic systems rely upon capillarity-induced self-assembly interactions between microparticles at fluid-fluid interfaces to form the lowest tier of the system. Owing to their relative mathematical simplicity and ease of manufacture, disk-shaped microparticles have been serving as useful objects of study and elements of self-assembled structures. However, due to a lack of published data, the dynamics of inter-particle interactions between these “microdisks” on flat interfaces are not well-understood at this scale. Herein, we present capillary interaction profiles at the air-water interface of microdisks, created via soft lithography from photocurable polymers. We propose models of the forces between these particles that align with the attractions we observe between them and reflect the proposition that the most influential forces at this scale are capillary. Our results help advance understanding of these small-scale forces that will aid future engineering of such systems, including complex sensors, non-static optical lenses, and energy-harvesting devices.
