Many materials swell due to the absorption of water. I have been working to understand the dynamics of this swelling behaviour across a range of systems, including responsive hydrogels and polymers with embedded salt. Using mechanical modelling, I unpick the complex interactions between fluid flow, elastic deformation and chemical interactions. The resulting knowledge can be used to design shape-changing structures at the microscale, or understand the processes in biological systems. 

Phoretic microbots are small artificial swimmers that propel by consuming a chemical fuel in the surrounding fluid. A chemical reaction on their surface generates local gradients in the solute, that drives a slip flow due to solute-surface interactions. We are exploring the interaction of shape and chemical patterning using a slender body theory for these chemically-propelled swimmers, expanding the library of known solutions and investigating the behaviour of looped and knotted filaments.

The extra-cellular matrix (ECM) is a polymeric material that exists in the space outside of cells in a wide variety of organisms, e.g. in bacterial biofilms or the basement membrane in tissues. The mechanical behaviour of the ECM can be difficult to unravel experimentally, due to its coupling with the accompanying growing and adapting biological system. Mathematical modelling can be used as an aid to explore these systems and understand their behaviour. We are currently investigating how turnover (replacement of material) can lead to viscoelastic behaviour over long timescales.

Small amounts of fluid between two solid surfaces can generate signficant forces due to the effect of surface tension. These forces are believed to help insects to stick to surfaces, due to an oily secretion on their feet, but can also cause problems in industrial settings. I investigated the effects of surface properties on the adhesion forces due to the surface tension of microscale bridging droplets, showing how deformation and rougness can be exploited to significantly alter the adhesion strength.