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I am interested in
the hydrodynamics of ionic liquids on small scales. Matter is
electrically neutral on macroscopic scales and electrostatic forces are
usually not of any great consequence on
the scale of everyday things. However, at very small scales (on the
order of 100 microns and less) electrostatic forces at charged
interfaces can actually drive fluid flow. Examples of such electrokinetic effects include electroosmosis and electrophoresis.
Electroosmosis has important applications in microfluidics and
nanotechnology. Electrophoresis, the motion of charged
macro-molecules in water is used to separate bio-molecules (e.g. in
sequencing DNA).The Brownian dynamics of charged polymers in
ionic fluids determine how the machinery of biological systems function
at the cellular and subcellular level. My research is concerned with
mathematical modeling of such phenomena using a combination of
asymptotic and numerical approaches.
Research Group
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