Super-hydrophobic textures for microfluidic lab-on-a-chip applications
Prof. Olga Vinogradova (Lomonossov, Moskau)

Hydrophobic solid surfaces with special textures can exhibit greatly enhanced (``super') properties, compared to analogous flat or slightly disordered surfaces. At the macroscopic scale this renders them `self-cleaning' and causes droplets to roll (rather than slide) under gravity and rebound (rather than spread) upon impact instead of spreading.
At the microscopic scale, super-hydrophobic surfaces could revolutionize microfluidic lab-on-a-chip systems, which are becoming widely used in biotechnology. In my talk I will provide some general theoretical results to guide the optimization of hydrodynamic and electrokinetic phenomena in super-hydrophobic channels. I will show how to induce novel properties, such as giant interfacial slip, superfluidity, mixing, low hydrodynamic drag, massive amplification of electrokinetic response, and more, that could not be achieved without roughness. These results provide a framework for the rational design of super-hydrophobic surfaces for microfluidics.