PhD Position Available

PhD Studentship

Making a Splash: Superhydrophobic Spacing, Symmetry and Stretch

 A PhD studentship is available for studying novel aspects of the beautiful, important and instantly familiar drop splash phenomenon. The student will use high-speed photography to observe drops falling on to extremely water-repellent (‘superhydrophobic’) surfaces. These impacts generate particularly rich and complex bouncing and splashing. To be superhydrophobic, a surface must have some roughness, so that water stays on top of ‘peaks’, and therefore easily skates across the surface. On man-made surfaces, the peaks can consist of a micrometre-scale array of posts, and it has recently been shown that the symmetry of drop impacts can match the pattern of these posts.

This study will include a pioneering survey of splashes on superhydrophobic arrays of polymer micro-pillars, arranged in various patterns. An exciting second goal is to create elastomeric substrates which enable tuning (control) of asymmetric splashes by mechanical stretching. The student will make and characterise surfaces, design and execute experiments, and analyse and interpret their experimental data. They will be trained in an array of cutting-edge physical chemistry research techniques, including wetting measurement, photolithography, high-speed photography, electron microscopy, and use of a laser direct writer. There is scope for considerable creativity in the development of tunable elastomeric substrates.

The work will be academically and experimentally challenging, requiring an applicant with a strong background in a physical sciences discipline and excellent command of written and spoken English. Experimental experience with fluidics and/or polymers would be an advantage (but is not necessary).

The project, available from early 2014, is supported by the Marsden fund, based at the Department of Physics, University of Auckland and affiliated with the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology (www.macdiarmid.ac.nz). The student will collaborate extensively in the micro- and nanofluidics communities. The student will receive a stipend of $25,000 per annum in addition to course fees.

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.

Contact:

Dr Geoff Willmott

geoff.willmott@auckland.ac.nz

Tel: (+64) (9) 3737599 ext. 89998