SM LAB
Soft Matter lab

Ms. Garima (2023 - present)

Thesis Title: Study of Self-assembly of Micro and Nanoparticles

Micropatterning or structuring of solution-mediated materials is a fundamental requirement for desired high-performance functions of the materials in various applications. Traditionally microscale patterning not only boosted up the microelectronics industry but also allowed emergence of lab on a chip for low-cost analytical instrumentation in parallel. Especially, nanoscale feature size opened new opportunities by offering many advantageous chemical, optical, electrical, and thermal characteristics derived from their high surface to volume ratio. In this reason, it is highly demanding for developing effective methods which is not only simple and low-cost but also is less limited in dimension, complex structure, and even 3-D patterns and/or structures. Several fabrication methods have been developed. Comparing with other techniques, such as lithographic, nanoimprinting, and microcontact printing, inkjet printing is a direct depositing technique using the liquid phase materials. By virtue of its cost effective, easy to handle and speediness, inkjet printing technique has become a reliable technique for high quality and well pattern fabrication. As the printed patterns are strongly influenced by the surface morphologies of injected droplets, it is necessary to control the depositing morphologies of inkjet droplets, which are also affected by many factors such as substrate wettability, ink rheology, printing apparatus and external field. However, it is still difficult to obtain desired morphologies by inkjet printing. The proposed research is to understand the basic underlying mechanism of color exhibits from nanostructure.