Nature cover for bachelor work of Stefan Muff
© 2016 UZH
The bachelor work of SOIS PhD student Stefan Muff is published in a cover article in Nature
Before diving into the world of spin-orbit interaction and novel physical phases, Stefan Muff performed his bachelor work at the University of Zurich developing an experimental set-up for contact angle measurements. The special aspect of his work was that it allows to measure the contact angle between liquids and nano-structured surfaces in a dynamical mode, while applying a voltage. This method was applied to measure the change of stiction and friction for droplets on a boron nitride nanomesh surface. The obtained results can help understand friction of liquids at surfaces more precisely. This will be useful to design methods to control the adhesion and movement of cells, and solve the problems of lubrication in micro-capillaries.
The work that Stefan put in this set-up and the measurements paid off as the results are now featured on the cover of the renowed Nature journal.
More detailed information can be found at the press release of the University of Zurich listed on the side.
Literature:
Stijn F. L. Mertens, Adrian Hemmi, Stefan Muff, Oliver Gröning, Steven De Feyter, Jürg Osterwalder, Thomas Greber. Switching stiction and adhesion of a liquid on a solid. Nature. June 30, 2016. DOI: 10.1038/nature18275