Micro and nanotechnology

Micro-Nano Scale Devices Reliability:

Adhesion of contacting surfaces is an important failure mechanism. Capillary forces are among the strongest contributors of the adhesion forces. While capillary adhesion equilibrium values have been widely studied, there is a lack of understanding of capillary adhesion dynamics.

Microcantilever crack healing experiment method under controlled environment condition provides unique observation capability of capillary dynamics. Understanding the capillary dynamics may envision the failure of the high frequency MEMS devices.

References:

E. Soylemez, and M. P. de Boer, "Crack healing between rough polycrystalline silicon hydrophilic surfaces in n-pentanol and water vapors," Tribology Letters, vol. 59, 2015.
E. Soylemez, and M. P. de Boer, "Capillary-Induced Crack Healing Between Surfaces of Nanoscale Roughness," Langmuir, vol. 30, 11625-11633, 2014.
E. Soylemez, R. A. Plass, W. R. Ashurst, and M. P. de Boer, "Probing MEMS in an environmentally controlled chamber using long working distance interferometry," Review of Scientific Instruments, vol. 84, 2013.

Nano-Engineered Water Filtration:

Methods to supply fresh water are becoming increasingly critical as the world population continues to grow. Small-diameter hazardous microbes such as viruses (20-100 nm diameter) can be filtered by size exclusion, but in this approach the filters are fouled. Thus, in our research, we are investigating an approach in which filters will be reusable. When exposed to ultraviolet (UV) illumination, titanate materials photocatalytically evolve *OH and O2*- radicals, which attack biological materials.

References:

E. Soylemez, M. P. de Boer, U. Sae-Ueng, A. Evilevitch, T. A. Stewart, and M. Nyman, "Photocatalytic Degradation of Bacteriophages Evidenced by Atomic Force Microscopy," PloS one, vol. 8, p. e53601, 2013.