Microscale Transport Process Laboratory (MTPL)

Department of Chemical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

Research@ MTPL

The research in this laboratory addresses the fundamentals of the transport processes at the microscale across diverse domains such as interfacial heat and mass transfer across ultrathin films, digital microfluidics involving precise movement of droplets using Electrowetting on Dielectric (EWOD) and surfaces with chemical gradients, design and development of micro-scale heat spreaders for cooling of electronic components, formation and propagation of cracks during drying of microdroplets, self-assembly of biomolecules and biological processes in small confinements, study of protein nanoparticle interaction etc. Significant collaborations, both national and international, exist with other leading groups in these areas.

Latest from MTPL

  • Micro cooling enhancement using oscillating nanofluid droplet (Sens. Actuators, B, 2017, 239, 562-570)

    A significant enhancement in micro cooling is observed when an AC voltage induced oscillating nanofluid (prepared using synthesizes silver nanoparticle) droplet is used as a coolant. The generated surface wave is analyzed using Stokes drift phenomenon and is used to explain the results.

  • Inhibition of fibrillation of human serum albumin through interaction with chitosan-based biocompatible silver nanoparticles (RSC Adv., 2016, 6 (49), 43104)

    Electrostatic interaction of chitosan-based silver nanoparticles with human serum albumin leads to inhibition of fibrillogenesis.

  • Contact line dynamics of nano-fluid thin films under electric field (Langmuir, 2015, 31 (14), 4160)

    The results indicate enhanced spreading on the application of electric field towards the contact line region. Image analyzing interferometry was successfully used to capture the thickness profile and analyze the fluid flow towards the contact line.

  • Application of heat increases droplet velocity on wettability gradient surfaces (RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 45266)

    Wettability gradient surfaces were fabricated and the droplet mobility over such surfaces has been measured. Significant increases in the droplet velocity are observed at elevated temperatures and a proposed model captures the intricate balance of forces governing these interesting phenomena. Such surfaces are ideal for efficient heat-dissipation, especially in integrated circuits.

  • Molecular dynamics study of thermally augmented self propelled nano-droplet motion (Langmuir, 2015, 31 (41), 11260)

    Droplet motion on a wettability gradient surface has been simulated using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation to understand the underlying physics of molecular movement near the three -phase contact line including the contact line friction. The simulation results shows a distinct increasing trend of the droplet movement with temperature which is in tune with the experimentally observed results.

  • Investigations on the kinetics of the aggregation of β- Amyloid (Aβ) in the plug based microfluidic devices (Int. J. Biol. Macromol., 2015,79, 344)

    Short peptide stretches in amyloidogenic proteins can form amyloid fibrils in vitro and have served as good models for studying amyloid fibril formation. The primary component of the amyloid fibrils is the amyloid β-peptide (Aβ). In these studies, 11- residue fragment of Amyloid-β (Aβ) has been chosen as a representative model to study the aggregation kinetics under confinement in a PDMS multi-inlet T-channel fabricated by soft lithography. These microchannels are used to generate plugs and are stored in glass capillary tubes. The kinetics of the fibril formation by self-aggregation of the Aβ peptide inside the plug is observed through fluorescence microscopy, circular dichroism and Transmission electron microscopy.

  • Surface wettability alters crack patterns in colloidal thin films (Langmuir, 2015, 31 (22), 6001)

    Paints and surface coatings are inherently colloidal suspensions, which are to be dried for solvent removal, leading to formation of cracks and delamination of the thin colloidal films. The effect of substrate properties, mainly the effect of surface wettability is examined during the process of crack formation and propagation. This will help address the mitigation of such cracking process.

  • Electrically modulated dynamic spreading of drops on soft surfaces (Applied Physics Letters, 2015, 107, 034101.)

    The interaction of substrate compliance and a liquid droplet placed over it is investigated in the presence of electric field. Specifically the dynamic spreading of the droplet is tracked using the evolution of the contact radius and a universal law relating the contact radius as a function of substrate elasticity and applied voltage has been proposed.

  • Functionalized Magnetic MnFe2O4 Nanoparticles affects fibrillation of human serum albumin (Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2014, 118, 11667)

    The effect of bare and differently functionalized magnetic MnFe2O4 nanoparticles on fibrillation of human serum albumin has been demonstrated in this study. This study has explored the prospects of using specific magnetic nanoparticles with appropriate modification to control self-assembly of proteins and may act as a precursor in therapeutic applications.

  • Enhance cooling efficiency by oscillating micro-droplets (RSC Adv., 2014, 4, 1074)

    An enhancement in the cooling efficiency was observed when an electrically tuned oscillating droplet is placed on the top of a hot spot.Pulsating DC voltage was used to create a shape dependent oscillation which augments the internal flow inside the droplet, leading to an increase rate of convective heat transfer and resulting in an enhanced cooling efficiency.