What is common among moth’s eye, gecko’s leg, lotus leaf, water strider’s leg and shark’s skin? Their biological systems inspired researchers to create applications that mimic biological processes. Find out more in this keynote, which is part of the Innovation Symposium of the Swiss Plastics Expo.
Predicting Bio-inspired Surfaces with Superomniphobic Characteristics
Engineering and eventually controlling the wettability of a surface has attracted a lot of attention within the scientific community, in large part, due to the very broad spectrum of engineering applications associated with wetting. Numerous technological applications related to non-wetting textiles, anti-fogging, anti-icing, buoyancy, flow improvement and anti-biofouling have seen the light of day in recent years. Most of these engineering applications were inspired by the behavior of biological surfaces when interacting with various liquids. Development of new and refinement of already existing technologies for manufacturing materials that repel all kinds of liquids become increasingly important. We present an improved wetting model, which predicts topographical characteristics of surface textures exhibiting superomniphobic traits. The new model is based on the well-understood original Cassie-Baxter model, providing, however, more realistic representations of the solid-liquid and liquid-air interfaces. The proposed model surpasses existing limitations of the original Cassie-Baxter model thereby setting the foundations of a road map towards surface topography optimization and, eventually, superomniphobicity.
Kurz CV
Dr. Nikolaos Lempesis is a Senior Research Associate at the School of Engineering and Architecture (HEIA-FR) in Fribourg and a member of the Plastics Innovation Competence Center (PICC). He holds two bachelor’s degrees in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and the Technical University in Munich (TUM) and a Ph.D. in Materials Science from NTUA. He has extensive postdoctoral research experience in some of the world’s leading technological institutes involving the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH). His research lies at the intersection of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science exploring ways to apply and advance state-of-the-art simulation and modeling techniques to research new materials technologies and facilitate fusion of simulation and experimentation.
This keynote is part of the Innovation Symposium of the Swiss Plastics Expo
At the Innovation Symposium, you will receive the latest specialist knowledge on 16 topics relating to plastics and plastics processing on two stages. Keynote speakers will report on science, technology, and industry. The showcase presentations will give you background information on exciting projects.
Participation in the Innovation Symposium is included in the ticket.
Dieser Vortrag wird in Englisch gehalten.
