Pyro-Electrohydrodynamic Platform for Manipulating Multiphase Liquids at Nanoscale: From Optofluidic to Flexible Electronics

Pietro Ferraro

Director of the Napoli Unit - Istituto Nazionale di Ottica del CNR - Italy

Abstract:

A novel platform for manipulating liquids at nanoscale will be illustrated. The concept is based on pyroelectric effect induced in polar dielectric substrates. Several examples of applications will be presented. In fact various configurations can be adopted with the aim to activate and operate several functionalities in microfluidics, optofluidics and biotechnologies. Liquids and multiphase materials can be handled through the pyro-electrohydrodynamic (pyro-EHD) forces, for different scopes that includes tuneable liquid microlenses, ink-jet printing, 3D lithography for fabricating single or arrays of complex high-aspect ratio and unique polymer microstructures.

Biography:

Dr. Pietro Ferraro is a Chief Research Scientist at Istituto Nazionale di Ottica del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (INO-CNR). He is the head of the INO Napoli Unit. After seven years spent as researcher in the main aerospace company in Italy (Finmeccanica - Alenia Aeronautics), where he conducted pioneering work on fiber Bragg sensors and holographic non-destructive testing of carbon fibers materials, he moved to the CNR. Current interests include interference lithography, micro- nano- structuring of ferroelectric crystals, optical fiber sensors, quantitative phase-contrast microscopy by digital holography, and 3D imaging and display. Recently he started to work on a new concept of platform for nanofluidics and optofluidics based on pyro-Electrohydrodynamic effects. He has published more than 160 papers in peer review journals. He has been an invited speaker in several international conferences. He has been co-editor of two books with Springer (Micro-/Nanoengineering and characterization of Ferroelectric Crystals for Photonic Applications, and Coherent Ligth Microscopy). He is Fellow of SPIE, Fellow of OSA and Senior Member of IEEE. He is Topical Editor of Optics Letters, Associate Editor for Journal of Display Technology (OSA/IEEE), member of the Editorial Board of the Optics and Lasers in Engineering Journal (Elsevier) and Member of Int. Editorial Board of Measurement & Science Technology Journal (Institute of Physics).