BRIGE: Study of Colloidal Electrohydrodynamics for Dielectrophoresis-Directed Fluidic Assembly of Nanostructures

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。该奖项的研究目标是研究介电泳（DEP）指导的流体组装中的胶体电流体动力学，涉及许多（数百个）纳米级实体。 纳米实体的运动和流场驱动的DEP将使用荧光显微镜和数字粒子图像测速实验研究。 组装的纳米和微米结构的最终图案将用扫描电子显微镜测量。 一个先进的数值模型将开发使用分布式拉格朗日乘子为基础的虚拟域的方法来探索众多的纳米级实体的集体电流体动力学行为。 模型预测将通过与实验数据的比较进行验证。 本研究将从纳微尺度上探讨固液两相流中的机电耦合问题。 实验和数值方法的发展也将有利于胶体系统中的颗粒流的一般研究。 如果成功的话，这项研究的结果将推进对纳米胶体中电流体动力学输运的理解。 这种理解是至关重要的，有效的和强大的流体组装技术的发展，大规模并行制造纳米结构的纳米和微电子应用。 BRIGE项目的技术方面将与其教育和推广方案相结合，这些方案旨在通过积极招聘和让研究生/本科生/高中生参与科学研究和培训，增加来自不同种族/族裔群体的有兴趣从事工程职业的代表性不足的学生人数。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The research objective of this BRIGE award is to study the colloidal electrohydrodynamics in dielectrophoresis (DEP)-directed fluidic assembly involving many (hundreds of) nanoscale entities. The nanoentity motion and the flow field driven by DEP will be experimentally investigated using fluorescent microscopy and digital particle image velocimetry. The final patterns of the assembled nano- and microstructures will be measured with scanning electron microscopy. An advanced numerical model will be developed using the distributed Lagrange-multiplier based fictitious-domain method to explore the collective electrohydrodynamic behavior of numerous nanoscale entities. The model prediction will be validated through comparison to the experimental data. This work will elucidate the coupling between electromechanics and fluid mechanics in solid-liquid two-phase flow at the nano- and microscale. The experimental and numerical methods developed will also benefit the general study of particulate flow in colloidal systems. If successful, the results of this research will advance the understanding of the electrohydrodynamic transport in nanoscale colloids. Such understanding is crucial to the development of effective and robust fluidic assembly techniques for large-scale parallel manufacturing of nanostructures for nano- and microelectronic applications. The technical aspects of the BRIGE project will be integrated with its education and outreach programs that aim at increasing the number of underrepresented students from diverse racial/ethnic groups who are interested in pursuing careers in engineering through active recruitment and involvement of graduate/undergraduate/high school students in scientific research and training.