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Apr 3, 2017

Our paper on hotspot cooling appears on the cover of Applied Physics Letters. [cover]

The American Institute of Physics issues a press release entitled "Jumping droplets extinguish unpredictable hotspots in electronics". [pdf]

Feb 17, 2017

Our paper on "Hotspot cooling with jumping-drop vapor chambers" is in press at Applied Physics Letters. Congratulations to Kris and Alex, as well as lab alumni Xiaopeng, Jonathan, Fangjie and Kungang. [pdf]

Sep 22, 2015

Our PRL paper on self-propelled coalescers is covered by MRS Materials360 Online with a story titled "Water droplets launch themselves from Teflon-coated microfibers" [pdf].

Aug 14, 2015

Our recent PRL paper on self-propelled coalescers is covered by Physics with a focus story "Self-removing droplets" [pdf].

Videos covering our research can be found at youtube in English [video] and at youku in Chinese [video].

July 23, 2015

Our paper on "Self-propelled droplet removal from hydrophobic fiber-based coalescers" is in press at Physical Review Letters. Congratulations to Kungang, Fangjie, Adam and Xiaopeng for turning a surprising observation into a rigorous paper. Good luck to Adam who made the initial observation as an undergraduate Pratt Fellow, and to Kungang who creatively and tirelessly led the project to completion as an MS student. [pdf]

May 31, 2015

Congratulations to Fangjie Liu for earning her PhD degree from Duke University, and good luck on her postdoctoral research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. We will be sorely missing Fangjie's computational expertise!

May 20, 2015

Our paper on "Self-propelled sweeping removal of dropwise condensate" is in press at Applied Physics Letters. Congratulations to Xiaopeng, Fangjie and lab alumnus Jonathan, who was at ORNL when this joint work was carried out. [pdf]

Mar 31, 2015

Congratulations to our incoming student Kris Wiedenheft and lab alumnus Jay Young for winning the prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

Mar 15, 2015

Kris Wiedenheft from North Carolina A&T State University will join the µPHYL group as a PhD student in Summer 2015. Kris is a recipient of the Dean's Graduate Fellowship.

Feb 20, 2015

The µPHYL group received a grant from Air Force Research Laboratory to explore jumping-drop thermal rectification in space applications.

Dec 8, 2014

Congratulations to Roger Chavez  and Kungang Zhang for successfully defending their M.S. theses.

May 29, 2014

Congratulations to Fangjie Liu whose companion papers on the mechanism of self-propelled jumping are in press at Journal of Fluid Mechanics. In collaboration with Giovanni Ghigliotti in Prof. James J. Feng's group at the University of Britsh Columbia, Fangjie finished the five-year Marathon started by former µPHYL members Jonathan Boreyko (experiments) [pdf] and Yuejun Zhao (simulations) [pdf].

May 29, 2014

Congratulations to Fangjie Liu whose paper on "Electrohydrodynamic cone-jet bridges: stability diagram and operating modes" is in press at Journal of Electrostatics. Well done on getting three papers accepted on the same day! [pdf]

Mar 15, 2014

Prof. Chuan-Hua Chen's promotion to Associate Professor with tenure, initially announced on January 22, has been approved by the Board of Trustees at its February 28, 2014 meeting.

Mar 4, 2014

Congratulations to our first PhD graduate Jonathan Boreyko who has accepted a tenure-track faculty position at Virginia Tech.

Jan 16, 2014 

Congratulations to former µPHYL members Jonathan and Yuejun whose patent application on "Thermal diode device and methods" is allowed by USPTO and in issue for a US patent. [link]

Dec 30, 2013 

Congratulations to Will Scheideler whose paper on "The minimum flow rate scaling of Taylor cone-jets issued from a nozzle" is in press at Applied Physics Letters. Will was an undergrad researcher at µPHYL from 2011 to 2013. [pdf]

Sep 30, 2013 

Prof. Chuan-Hua Chen has been invited by Langmuir to write a feature article on the self-propelled jumping phenomena powered by surface energy. [link]

Sep 1, 2013 

Welcome to new µPHYL members Carrina Dong who is a Class 2016 student and Jeff Faulkner who is a science teacher at Stanford Middle School. Good luck to our summer REU students Mike Grobinski and Jan Soto in their future endeavors.

Aug 14, 2013 

Roger Chavez received a two-year fellowship from the Center for Biomolecular and Tissue Engineering at Duke University.

Apr 30, 2013 

Our self-cleaning paper is highlighted in PNAS Early Edition, and reported in Scientific American and NBC News. [pdfs: PNAS, SciAm, NBC]

Apr 3, 2013 

Our paper on "Self-cleaning of superhydrophobic surfaces by self-propelled jumping condensate" is in press at PNAS. Congratulations to Katrina, Xiaopeng and Fangjie as well as Jola Watson and Greg Watson, our collaborators at James Cook University. [pdf]

Mar 29, 2013 

µPHYL member Will Scheideler and former member Katrina Wisdom both won the prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Good luck to their graduate studies at Berkeley and Stanford, respectively!

Mar 6, 2013 

Our paper on "Vapor chambers with jumping-drop liquid return from superhydrophobic condensers" is published at International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. Congratulations to Jonathan! [pdf]

Jan 7, 2013

Roger Chavez joins µPHYL as a PhD student. He is a graduate fellow affiliated with Triangle MRSEC.

Sept 1, 2012

The µPHYL group received grants from National Science Foundation and Intel Corporation to study the jumping condensate phenomenon discovered at Duke and apply the knowledge to microelectronics cooling. The NSF grant funds the fundamental study of an adaptive hotspot cooling technique, and the Intel grant supports the engineering development of a phase-change heat spreader.

July 16, 2012 

A warm welcome to new µPHYL members, Sang Cheol Kim (undergraduate researcher), Chance Bozeman, Jay Young (REU fellows), and Kungang Zhang (graduate student). Best of luck to Jonathan Boreyko in advancing his career. We will be sorely missing Jonathan's optimism and productivity!

Jun 1, 2012 

Congratulations to Dr. Jonathan Boreyko, the first PhD graduate from µPHYL, who successfully defended his dissertation entitled "From dynamical superhydrophobicity to thermal diodes". Jonathan will join Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

Mar 22, 2012 

Prof.  Chuan-Hua Chen was selected as the Alfred M. Hunt Faculty Scholar within the Pratt School of Engineering, in recognition of his "outstanding research in mechanical engineering and materials science".

Feb 8, 2012 

Jonathan and Yuejun's APL paper on "Planar jumping-drop thermal diodes" are well received in the scientific community and the mass media. In addition to the First Poster Prize at the 2011 Gordon Research Conference on Microfluidics, their work has been covered by a variety of scientific magazines:

- Mechanical Engineering: Jumping droplets make a heat trap [pdf]

- Materials Today: Jumping droplets control heat flow [pdf]

Dec 30, 2011 

Congratulations to David Bober who will continue his Ph.D. journey at UC Irvine while enjoying sunny California! We will be greatly missing his experimental expertise.

Nov 16, 2011

Our paper on "Planar jumping-drop thermal diodes" is in press at Applied Physics Letters. Congratulations to Jonathan and Yuejun! [pdf]

Oct 13, 2011

Our paper on "Pulsating electrohydrodynamic cone-jets: from choked jet to oscillating cone" is in press at Journal of Fluid Mechanics. Congratulations to David! [pdf]

Oct 7, 2011

Our paper on "Nonclogging resistive pulse sensing with electrohydrodynamic cone-jet bridges" is in press at Physical Review X. Congratulations to µPHYL members Yuejun Zhao and David Bober. [pdf]

Sept 6, 2011

Our paper on "Thermocapillary actuation of binary drops on solid surfaces" has been published by Applied Physics Letters. Congratulations to µPHYL members Yuejun Zhao and Fangjie Liu. [pdf]

July 8, 2011

The µPHYL lab has an immediate postdoctoral opening. Qualified candidates are encouraged to directly contact Prof. Chuan-Hua Chen. [pdf]

June 30, 2011

Jonathan Boreyko won First Prize in the poster session of the Gordon Research Conference on the Physics and Chemistry of Microfluidics. Congratulations to Jonathan!

June 15, 2011

Our paper on "Wetting and dewetting transitions on hierarchical superhydrophobic surfaces" has been published by Langmuir. Congratulations to µPHYL members Jonathan Boreyko, Chris Baker (Pratt Fellow), and Celeste Poley (REU Fellow) [pdf].

March 24, 2011

A warm welcome to new µPHYL members: Katrina Wisdom (Class of 2012), Will Scheideler (Class of 2013), and Benjamin Goldman (PhD student to start in Fall 2011)!

Jan 12, 2011 

Yuejun Zao took a job as a senior MEMS engineer at Telecardia Corp. Congratulations! We will be sorely missing Yuejun's versatility at µPHYL.

Nov 29, 2010  

µPHYL researcher was featured on Duke website in a video interview, "Why Mechanical Engineering: Jonathan Boreyko."

Nov 22, 2010  

Yuejun Zao's video entry, UFO: "Unidentified" Floating Object Driven by Thermocapillarity, was selected for the video gallery in conjunction with the 2010 APS Division of Fluid Dynamics Annual Meeting. [pdf]

Sep 15, 2010  

Yuejun Zao received honorable mention in the Mahato Memorial Image & Photo Contest: "Envisioning the Invisible". The judges to this event include renowned science photographer Felice Frankel.

Aug 23, 2010  

Prof. Chuan-Hua Chen has been invited by Reports on Progress in Physics to review recent progress on the dynamical aspects of superhydrophobicity. "Reports on Progress in Physics has a long-established reputation as a journal for the publication of authoritative review articles in all branches of physics." [link]

Aug 2, 2010  

Prof. Chuan-Hua Chen is among 33 young faculty who received the DARPA Young Faculty Award in 2010. The objective of his YFA project is to develop a phase-change thermal diode that regulates the direction of heat flow. [pdf]

Aug 1, 2010  

µPHYL researchers are featured on the cover of the MEMS departmental newsletter in a story titled "Mushrooms and water repellants more similar than you might think." [pdf]

Jun 16, 2010  

Prof. David Quere from ESPCI visited µPHYL and gave a departmental seminar titled "Variations on a Theme by Leidenfrost". Prof. Quere is a co-author of Capillarity and Wetting Phenomena.

Apr 15, 2010  

Prof. Chuan-Hua Chen won an award from NC Space Grant New Investigators Program for a project titled "Self-sustained dropwise condensation". The goal of this project is develop dropwise condensers with self-propelled drop removal independent of gravity.

Apr 13, 2010  

Jonathan Boreyko won the Second Poster Prize out of more than 70 student posters at the Faraday Discussion 146 on Wetting Dynamics of Hydrophobic and Structured Surfaces. Supported by an FD-GRS fellowship, Jonathan was also invited to give a talk at the inaugural Faraday Discussion Graduate Research Seminar. Congratulations to Jonathan!

Apr 12, 2010  

Fangjie Liu and David Bober will join µPHYL as Ph.D. students in Fall 2010. Welcome!

Nov 24, 2009  

Jonathan Boreyko's video on self-propelled drops won the Gallery of Fluid Motion in the 62nd APS Division of Fluid Dynamics Annual Meeting. This winning entry will be published in a special issue of Physics of Fluids. [video]

Nov 13, 2009  

Jonathan Boreyko's work on self-propelled dropwise condensate is highlighted in the Editors' Choice section of Science [pdf].

Nov 3, 2009  

Jonathan Boreyko's work is featured on the Discovery Channel in Super Slo-Mo Tuesday [pdf]. This program aired Jonathan's high-speed videos on self-propelled drops. Follow this link to watch the video.

Oct 26, 2009  

Prof. Chuan-Hua Chen and Jonathan Boreyko are featured in The New York Times in an article titled "Vibrations keep water out of lotus leaves" [pdf]. This times article reported their work on unveiling lotus's secret to stay repellent to dewy water.

Oct 23, 2009  

Jonathan Boreyko's work on lotus's antidew superhydrophobicity is featured on the cover [pdf] of Physical Review Letters. Congratulations to Jonathan on making µPHYL's first journal article a big hit!

Oct 16, 2009  

Jonathan Boreyko's work on self-propelled drops is featured on Physics Today in a Physics Update item titled "Rough surface gives drops the heave-ho" [pdf].

Oct 1, 2009  

Jonathan Boreyko is one of the nine nationwide finalists for the Collegiate Inventors Competition hosted by the National Inventor Hall of Fame.

Sep 30/Oct 7, 2009  

Jonathan Boreyko got two papers accepted by the premium physics journal Physical Review Letters. Congratulations!

Sep 7, 2009  

Prof. Chuan-Hua Chen is the guest co-editor for a Themed Issue on the Fundamental Principles and Techniques in Microfluidics, which is published today by the journal Lab on a Chip.

June 22, 2009  

Prof. Chuan-Hua Chen is among the six invited lecturers for an advanced school on Electrokinetics and Electrohydrodynamics in Microsystems hosted by the International Center for Mechanical Sciences (CISM). This week-long lecture series is held in Udine, Italy on June 22-26, 2009. For further information, click on the brochure.

Jun 16, 2009  

Ms. Jean Stave, a physics teacher at Riverside High School, is visiting the µPHYL group in the summer. She leads the educational outreach efforts in Prof. Chen's CAREER program to transfer cutting-edge microfluidics research to high school classrooms.

Jun 8, 2009  

Prof. Chuan-Hua Chen was featured on Duke Today in a story titled "Working in the Nano-World".

May 19, 2009  

Jonathan Boreyko received Honorable Mention in the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program.

May 14, 2009  

Prof. Chuan-Hua Chen won the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award from Oak Ridge Associated Universities for a proposal titled "Beetle Inspired Fuel Cell Water Management". The goal of this project is to mimic desert beetle's water-harvesting  surface with hybrid wettability to passively manage water in polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells.  

May 10, 2009  

Chris Lin graduates with a B.S. degree from Duke University. Congratulations and good luck on Chris's first job at NAVSEA.

Jan 16, 2009 (updated on Apr 3, 2009)

Prof. Chuan-Hua Chen won the NSF CAREER Award from the Fluid Dynamics program for a proposal titled "Electrohydrodynamic Coulter Counting". The electrohydrodynamic jet will be developed as a tunable fluidic aperture in lieu of solid-state nanopores for resistive-pulse sensing. The applications include detection of unlabeled biomolecules and deployment of single nanoparticles.

Feb 23, 2009  

Yuejun Zao joined µPHYL as a postdoctoral research associate.

Dec 8, 2008  

Meng-Han Chiang successfully defended his research project on intrinsically pulsating electrohydrodynamic cone-jets, and will be receiving an MS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University. Best of luck on Menghan's business journey in Taiwan!

Dec 3, 2008  

Chris Baker joins µPHYL as a Pratt Research Fellow.

Nov 23-25, 2008  

µPHYL students Jonathan Boreyko, Menghan Chiang and Shenren Xu presented three conference papers at the 61st APS Division of Fluid Dynamics Annual Meeting. Please follow the links to these papers on restoring superhydrophobicity with vibration, rapid superhydrophobic condensation dynamics, and pulsating electrohydrodynamic cone-jets.

Nov 15, 2008  

Updated pictures of the µPHYL facilities are available online.

Nov 7, 2008  

Jonathan Boreyko won the first prize in the poster session of the 1st Graduate Retreat of the MEMS Department at Duke.

Oct 8, 2008  

Xiaodong Zhang accepted a postdoctoral position with Prof. Joost Vlassak at Harvard University. Congratulations!

Aug 25, 2008  

Chris Lin joins µPHYL as an undergraduate research assistant.

Aug 4, 2008  

Prof. Chuan-Hua Chen won a grant from NSF's Thermal Transport Processes program to develop a "Biomimetic Electrospray Vapor Chamber (BEVAC)." The prototype BEVAC is expected to be tested at Intel Corporation.

Aug 1, 2008    

Shenren Xu joins µPHYL as a graduate research assistant.

May 9, 2008    

Prof. Chuan-Hua Chen is guest-editing an issue on fundamental reviews of miniaturization for the Lab on a Chip journal.

Mar 3, 2008    

Jonathan Boreyko joins µPHYL as a graduate research assistant.

Feb 27, 2008  

Pictures of the µPHYL facilities are available online.

Jan 22, 2008  

Meng-Han Chiang joins µPHYL as a graduate research assistant.

Dec 1, 2007    

The µPHYL lab has immediate openings for graduate research assistants and/or postdoctoral research associates.

Oct 1, 2007   

Prof. Chuan-Hua Chen won a contract from DARPA's Thermal Ground Plane program. Prof. Chen will collaborate with Prof. Stefan Zauscher at Duke to develop adaptive wick structures using thermal responsive polymers. These novel wick structures will be integrated in a nano-structured vapor chamber developed by Teledyne Scientific Company.

Sep 1, 2007   

Xiaodong Zhang joins µPHYL as a postdoctoral associate.

Sep 1, 2007   

Prof. Chuan-Hua Chen joins Duke University as a tenure-track assistant professor.

Mail: 178 Hudson Hall, Box 90300, Durham, NC 27708-0300  |  Tel: 919-660-5343  |  Email: chuanhua.chen@duke.edu

Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science | Pratt School of Engineering | Duke University