Soft Matter and Wetting
PUBLICATIONS: Soft Matter and Wetting group
Full list of publications.
FACILITIES: Soft Matter and Wetting group
List of our research equipment and facilities.
CODES: Soft Matter and Wetting group
Program codes published as part of our works.
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Robin Ras, Professor
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Research group
Soft Matter and Wetting (SMW) is a multidisciplinary research group consisting of physicists and chemists. We are interested in functional soft materials and the wettability of surfaces. Many of the materials we work on are inspired by nature, such as extremely water-repellent biological surfaces that provide the basis for synthetic superhydrophobicity.
ERC Consolidator grant / ERC Proof-of-Concept grant
The leader of the SMW group, Professor Robin Ras, has received a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). The topic of this five-year project is "Superslippery Liquid-Repellent Surfaces".
Research highlight
We developed a new concept for durable superhydrophobic surfaces by structuring surfaces at two different length scales. The microstructure is an interconnected surface frame that protects highly water-repellent and mechanically fragile nanostructures. Water repellency of the resulting superhydrophobic surfaces is preserved even after abrasion by sandpaper and by a sharp steel blade.
Wang D., Sun Q., Hokkanen M.J., Zhang C., Lin F.-Y., Liu Q., Zhu S.-P., Zhou T., Chang Q., He B., Zhou Q., Chen L., Wang Z., Ras R.H.A., Deng X.
Design of Robust Superhydrophobic Surfaces
Nature 582, 55–59 (2020) () () (press release)
Research group members
Elizabath Maria Nallukunnel Raju
Liu Zhi Jian Suzanne Wagener
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News
What's new in Soft Matter and Wetting?
Prof. Robin Ras elected as member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters
Membership of the Academy is awarded to scientists distinguished in their field. Ras is an internationally prominent researcher of surfaces and wetting.
Surface repelling different kinds of drops and fog lands Innovation Prize at Department of Applied Physics
The team plans to find industrial partners for their environmentally friendly and scalable hydrophobic surface.
Physicists explain—and eliminate—unknown force dragging against water droplets on superhydrophobic surfaces
Aalto University researchers adapt a novel force measurement technique to uncover the previously unidentified physics at play at the thin air-film gap between water droplets and superhydrophobic surfaces.
Medical innovation makes early cancer diagnostics cheaper, faster, easier
Aalto University researcher makes two-pronged improvement on microbubble technology