| Soft Condensed Matter Physics |
| · Active matter. |
| · Biofilms - Structure and property correlations |
| · Rheology- Large amplitude oscillatory shear. |
| · Small-angle scattering using Light, X-ray and Neutrons |
Biofilm as a material
Three dimensional reconstructed confocal microscopic image of a biofilm.
Biofilms formed by micro-organisms such as bacteria and fungi are abundantly found on Earth. All they require is a moisture laden interface and nutrients to grow. The majority view is that biofilms are harmful.
Our research views biofilms as biodegradable and sustainable material. Currently, we are studying the mechanical and structural properties of films formed by the non-pathogenic fungus Neurospora discreta to design biofilm membranes that can treat toxic industrial effluents.
Biofilms are a form of active matter in which energy transported across the boundary of the system is transduced to increase the biomass: Our research identifies factors that can increase the biomass and consequently, the mechanical strength of the biofilms.
We employ several techniques to characterize the material which include Large Amplitude Oscillatory Shear Rheology, Dynamical Mechanical Analyzer, Confocal Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Small-angle X-ray scattering.
| Micro-fluid Mechanics |
| · Strategies for efficient mixing of liquids in the laminar flow regime. |
| · Theories of mixing |
| · Low-dimensional Chaos in microfluidics |
Theoretical Microfluidics
Velocity field stirring the fluid around obstacles
At the microscale, life of a fluid is boring. When fluids of two different concentrations are introduced in a microchannel, most fluid particles move in a straight line. The two fluids acknowledge each other only at the interface. We would like to stir them up to make their life exciting. We want them to mix and mix fast.
Our research focusses on designing mixers. This entails fundamental understanding of microscale mixing. We exploit recent advances in Hamiltonian Fluid Mechanics, and Dynamical Systems Theory and perform finite element numerical simulation to gain insights into the mixing process.