Department Seminar of Camilla Samartino- Spontaneous Directional Liquid Flow in Bio-Inspired Topological Structures

Spontaneous Directional Liquid Flow in Bio-Inspired Topological Structures

Monday November 18th at 14:00 

Wolfson Building of Mechanical Engineering, Room 206

abstract:

In nature, several organisms possess the extraordinary ability to guide liquids to specific places spontaneously. Trees, cactus spines, spider silk, desert lizard scales, and fleas are just some fascinating examples. Surfaces geometries combined with surface chemistries that promote directional liquid flow gained the term “liquid diodes”. Applications of such liquid diodes range from microfluidics and electronics to biomedicine and sensing. However, an in-depth understanding of how liquids spread and flow in complex networks of such liquid diodes still lacks.

In this work, the functionality, performance, and applications of liquid diodes inspired by the spermatheca organ found in female fleas were studied. High resolution 3D printing was used to design complex geometries and elucidate how liquid propagates in 2D networks made of liquid diodes. This includes flexible liquid diodes in which liquid flow can be mechanically actuated.

Finally, additional work on spontaneous unidirectional flow in asymmetric hollow structures and 3D meshes is presented. Drawbacks and future steps are discussed.

This research work highlights the emerging potential of liquid diodes as versatile tools for manipulating and modelling liquid flow in both technical and biological systems. Furthermore, it offers new opportunities in applications such as lab-on-a-chip devices, sensing, wearable electronics, and space aviation where fine control over fluid dynamics is crucial.

bio:

Camilla, originally from Milan, Italy, graduated in Physics in 2017 from Università degli Studi di Milano and moved to Israel the following year for her Master's degree in Materials Science and Engineering. During her MSc, she worked on metal laser-assisted 3D printing under the supervision of Prof. Noam Eliaz and in collaboration with Orbotech (now part of KLA). After graduating in 2021, she started her Ph.D in Dr. Bat-El Pinchasik's group, Biomimetic Mechanical Systems and Interfaces. She works on spontaneous directional liquid transport on bioinspired topological surfaces.