The following PhD projects will be competitively available in the Soft Matter group at Nottingham Trent University, UK, as part of a university-wide PhD fellowship programme. For further information please contact the supervisor indicated:
Wrinkles in curved films. A curved sheet resists being flattened. This project will look at the interplay between elastic forces and geometry, to develop thin materials that will wrinkle, buckle or fold in bespoke patterns, on demand. Contact: Lucas Goehring (lucas.goehring…ntu.ac.uk)
Microfluidic porous media. Microfluidic techniques allow for the exact reproduction of complex shapes and patterns, on scales appropriate for many geophysical flows. Our lab has been pioneering their use for the study of multiphase flow patterns in porous media, and several opportunities exist to exploit these further. Contact: Lucas Goehring (lucas.goehring… ntu.ac.uk)
Instabilities in power grids. Failures and outages in power grids can cause major disruption. Like many other dynamical systems, power outage events show self-similar characteristics. This project will look at load-dependence, to determine if small-scale day-to-day outage events can provide a basis for predicting larger outages. Contact: Lucas Goehring (lucas.goehring…ntu.ac.uk)
Intermediate Reynolds number swarms. The standard paradigm in high Reynolds number swarming dynamics is to neglect the role of the fluid, in favour of visual/acoustic signalling, whereas at low Reynolds numbers viscous forces are known to play crucial roles, as well as chemical signalling. In this project, we will aim to explore the intermediary region where very little is known about the role of viscous and inertial forces on swimming and swarming dynamics. Contact Kyle Baldwin (kyle.baldwin…ntu.ac.uk)
Microswimmers in an evaporating drop. Considerable research has been dedicated to solving the problem of flows and deposition in evaporating sessile drops, yet there is very little known about how microswimmers respond to, or even counteract, these flows. We will explore two aqueous drying drop systems: biological microswimmers (such as bacterium B. Subtilis, or algae Chlamydomonas nivalis), and active emulsions (swimming oil droplets), both of which are known to induce large scale convection in dense concentrations. Contact Kyle Baldwin (kyle.baldwin…ntu.ac.uk)
Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) of evaporating droplets: Building on our recently published paper on density-driven flow in binary liquid droplets (Edwards et al., Phys. Rev, Letts, , 121, 184501 (2018)) using OCT, we will investigate the flow mechanisms in single and multiple droplets. We will combine OCT with interference techniques to enable simultaneous measurements of both flow inside and vapour density around evaporating droplets. Contact: Fouzia Ouali (fouzia.ouali…ntu.ac.uk)
The development of low cost Lateral Flow Devices for applications in medical diagnostics: Lateral Flow Devices (LFD) are rapid and low cost point-of-care membrane based platform for detecting and quantifying of analytes in complex liquids in a wide range of medical applications. In this project, we aim to develop the next generation of membranes based on electrospun nanofibres. We will investigate how the physical and chemical properties of the nanofibres affect flow rate and investigate their feasibility as active membrane in LFD. In addition, we will develop theoretical methods to enable the determination of the flow rate in the membranes. Contact: Fouzia Ouali (fouzia.ouali…ntu.ac.uk)
Fabrication and characterisation of capillary micro-channels for microfluidics applications: Microfluidic capillary systems use surface tension and capillary forces to handle, manipulate and control the flow of small volume of liquids within micro-channels and have attracted a large interest because their potential applications. In this project, we aim to design, fabricate and characterise micro-channels for liquid mixing and separation applications using both photolithography and 3D printing. Contact: Fouzia Ouali (fouzia.ouali…ntu.ac.uk)
Nematic Liquid Crystal Flow and Microfluidics – Confined flow of liquid crystals has applications for micro-cargo transport and provides insights relevant to LCD manufacturing processes. This project will investigate the effects of the relative strength and direction of surface anchoring, the flow rate, the relative magnitude of the anisotropic viscous and elastic forces, the strength of an externally applied electric field, and the presence and evolution of defects. Electro-rheological effects will be studied in thin nematic liquid crystal layers where elasticity and surface interaction forces become more dominant. Contact Carl Brown (carl.brown… ntu.ac.uk)
Dielectrophoresis for lab-on-a-chip applications – We have previously demonstrated how electric forces, i.e. liquid dielectrophoresis, can be used to force a liquid to wet and super-spread on a surface that it would not normally wet. This technique can also be used for droplet actuation, transport, and manipulation. In this project the dielectrophoresis control of both particle matter and liquid droplets will be explored for analytical and monitoring applications. Contact Carl Brown (carl.brown…ntu.ac.uk)
Multiple interacting droplets. The evaporation of an individual droplet is very well studied, but in nature and industry, there are always thousands of them. This experimental project will investigate these interactions, in collaboration with the Universities of Durham and Edinburgh. Contact: David Fairhurst (david.fairhurst…ntu.ac.uk)
Patterns in evaporating blood droplets. This combined experimental/computational project will continue ground-breaking work using the patterns in dried blood droplets to monitor health and screen for diseases (publication in preparation). Contact: David Fairhurst (david.fairhurst…ntu.ac.uk)
Flow in soft channels. This experimental project will investigate the interplay between a moving fluid and soft solids and will cover a range of experimental techniques from microfabrication to image processing. Contact: David Fairhurst (david.fairhurst…ntu.ac.uk)
Projects would be contingent on the applicant successfully competing in the NTU PhD Studentship scheme, for which the deadline for application is 25 February. Further details of how to apply are available at: www.ntu.ac.uk/research/research-degrees-at-ntu/phd-studentships
The deadline for application is 25 February