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For another decade (2021-2030)

Thrust Areas

Soft/Hard Micro-/Nanofluidics: Small Chip but Big World!

Understanding and Control of Nanoscale Transport Phenomena Using Soft/Hard Nanofluidics

  • Lab on a Chip, Sensors, High Throughput Screening, etc

    • ​​​​Microfluidics and Nanofluidics (MNF) deal with fluid mechanics and mass transport phenomena at micro-/nanoscale. Unlike classical fluid mechanics and heat and mass transfer, the MNF are a multi-disciplinary field including engineering, physics, chemistry, biochemistry, and biotechnology and show a variety of novel applications.

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Unconventional Nanofabrication: Cracking, Forming, or Wrinkling for Breaking

  • Crack-lithography for a Single or Multiple Nanochannels

  • Fluid Patterning for Nanoscale Material Forming: various nanomaterials are patterned in a controllable fashion 

  • Winkle-lithography for an Array of Multiscale Nanochannels 

    • Instead of conventional nanofabrication processes, novel alternatives are developed in an unconventional manner to simultaneously produce mixed-scale patterns on a substrate by using only the standard photolithography. The micro-/nanopatterns are subsequently used as a master mold for soft-lithography, enabling to replicate micro-/nanofluidic devices simply and repeatedly, showing a wide variety of micro-/nanofluidic applications. ​

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Deep Learning (AI) and Multi-physics Simulations in Micro-/Nanofluidics

  • Multi-physics simulations provide a powerful means to visualize what is going on at the micro-/nanoscales. These simulations typically deal with Navier-Stokes equation, Poisson's equation, and Nernst-Planck equation at the same time. In addition, theoretical modeling along with feasible boundary conditions increases the accuracy of the simulation results, which sometimes enables us to understand and predict underlying fundamental mechanisms in experiments or sometimes supports experimental results conversely.

  • In addition, deep learning approaches (AI) are employed to figure out how to analyze and classify the experimental results obtained via microscopy in massive, high-throughput, and collective manners.

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Drug Delivery
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Biosensors: Discover Target Biomarkers Wherever Hidden

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[image source]

High-throughput Screening: Looking for A Needle in A Haystack (Target Single Cell)

Finding a needle in a haystack

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[image source]

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Biomimetics: Wisdom from Nature for Practical Apps via NanoEngineering

  • Structure Colors for Anti-counterfeiting

    • Don't get deceived!  

  • Artificial Gill for Underwater Activities and Applications

    • Is it possible to breathe in the water like fish?​

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(nano) Mechatronics: Homo sapiens use tools!

  • Nanoscopic Control & Measurement

  • Visualization of Nanoscale Transport Phenomena Using Customized micro-controller or processor

  • Automation of Experimental setup Including Micro-/NanoDevices

  • Automation of Data Acquisition​ to real-time monitoring/controlling/processing​​

  • Wireless communication to visualize data and status of systems (w/ Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, LoRa ...)

    • Let's have the robot experiment!

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