SPP 1164:  Nano- and Microfluidics: Bridging the Gap between Molecular Motion and Continuum Flow

• Subject Area: Physics
• Term: from 2004 to 2010
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5472059

During the last decade, micro- and nanotechnology has become an important industry. This development has been assisted by a funding policy supporting the design of miniaturised mechanical structures and complex micromachines through which fluids move. To date, however, little attention has been paid to the actual transport of fluids in these confined geometries, even though the fluid flow on increasingly smaller scales cannot always be properly described by conventional continuum equations: physical phenomena which can be neglected on the macro scale become dominant as the length scale diminishes. On the other hand, systems on scales on which micro effects become sensible cannot yet be treated by molecular methods, owing to the lack of computational power. Hence, there is a definite need for novel theories, numerical methods and measurement techniques devised to properly describe the confined fluid flow on length scales in the range from 10 and 1000 nm.
This Priority Programme is aimed at bridging the gap between molecular motion and continuum flow by an interdisciplinary effort. Basic research proposals are invited from physics, engineering, chemistry, biology and medical technology. Interdisciplinary projects are particularly encouraged.
Priority will be given to the following topics:
-- How do solid walls or deformable boundaries influence the motion of liquids on small scales?
-- How are soft objects (e.g. cells) affected by the flow around them, and how do they influence the fluid motion in a confined geometry?
-- How are transport processes modified in the vicinity of a liquid/gas interface?
-- What is the length-scale limit up to which intrinsic micro mechanisms are operative?
-- How can micro- and nanoflows of liquids be driven and controlled by external means?
The main goal of this Priority Programme is the investigation of collective transport phenomena on the micro- and nanoscale. The anticipated results should give a significant boost to the advancement of micro- and nanofluid technologies.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes

Projects

• Biomacromolecules and interactions with linker molecules in hydrodynamically focused flow (Applicant Pfohl, Thomas )
• Capillary Rise and Flow of Complex Liquids in Nanopores (Applicant Huber, Patrick )
• Cooperative action of motile micro-pillars: from micro-scale fluid-structure interaction to effictive near-wall flow control (Applicant Brücker, Christoph )
• Dynamics of capillary surfaces at the nano and meso scale and their impact on dispensing devices: development of a free surface dissipative particle dynamics method (Applicant Santer, Mark )
• Dynamics of capillary surfaces at the nano and meso scale and their impact on dispensing devices: development of a free surface dissipative particle dynamics method (Applicant Moseler, Michael )
• Dynamics of Micro/Nano-Structure Formation in Quasi Two-Dimensional Fluids: Applications in Directed Biomaterial Transport (Applicant Tanaka, Motomu )
• Dynamics of Morphological Wetting Transitions on Topographic Substrates (Applicant Seemann, Ralf )
• Experimental investigation of the electrophoretic separation of biomolecules in a microfluidic system with a phase boundary between two immiscible fluids (Applicant Hardt, Steffen )
• Experimental study of the interaction of near-wall flow with flexible polymers at micro-scale (Applicant Schröder, Wolfgang )
• Flow behavior of soft objects like polymers, vesicles and cells in microchannels (Applicant Gompper, Gerhard )
• Flow behaviour of single vesicles and red blood cells in confined geometry disigned by microfluidic channels (Applicant Franke, Thomas )
• Flow past hydrophobic rough surface: Experiment, theory and simulation (Applicant Vinogradova, Olga )
• Flowing behavior into, within and out of individual rolled-up semiconductor nanotubes (Applicant Schmidt, Oliver G. )
• Fluid and particle manipulation on the nanoscale: Electrically induced vortices in laminar flows for localised aggregation of bioparticles (Applicants Jäger, Magnus ;  Stuke, Michael )
• Fluidics of micro-capsules in shear flow: Dynamical shape transformations and role of membrane roughness (Applicant Seifert, Udo )
• Hydrodynamic interactions along polymers and between colloidal particles as well as the dynamics of vesicles in microflows (Applicant Zimmermann, Walter Josef )
• Hydrodynamic manipulation of active transport along actin cortex models (Applicant Spatz, Joachim P. )
• Interactions between liquid flows and chemically modified microchannels (Applicant Himmelhaus, Michael )
• Investigation and control of the liquid flow through nanoscalic packed beds (Applicant Nirschl, Hermann )
• Joint numerical-experimental investigation of the dynamics of single- and doubly-tethered DNA molecules in shear flow (Applicants Adams, Nikolaus Andreas ;  Mertig, Michael )
• Koordinatorantrag (Applicant Jacobs, Karin )
• Mathematical modeling, analysis, numerical simulation of thin films and droplets on rigid and visoelastic substrates, emphasizing the role of slippage (Applicant Wagner, Ph.D., Barbara Agnes )
• Mesoscopic simulations of microfluidic applications (Applicant Harting, Jens )
• Molecular transport and flow of polymers on polymer brushes and deformable surfaces: Computer simulation of model systems (Applicant Müller, Marcus )
• Nano- and microfluidics using optical tweezers with fast single particle tracking (Applicant Kremer, Friedrich )
• Nanopumps based on high frequency electromagnetic travelling waves: A theoretical and experimental approach to the transport of fluids and particles in microchannels (Applicant Geggier, Peter )
• Nanoscale Discontinuities at the Boundary of Flowing Liquids: a Look into Structure and Dynamics (Applicants Magerl, Andreas ;  Zabel, Hartmut )
• New experimental concepts to study DNA dynamics in confined microstructures (Applicant Braun, Hans-Georg )
• New experimental concepts to study DNA dynamics in confined microstructures (Applicant Schwille, Petra )
• Non-equilibrium flow at gradient surfaces: Fluid kinetics of droplets and particle motion (Applicants Müller-Buschbaum, Peter ;  Stamm, Manfred ;  Varnik, Fathollah )
• Non-equilibrium flow in nanoscale geometries: Influence of confinement and surface functionality (Applicant Stamm, Manfred )
• Polymer adsorption in shear (Applicant Netz, Roland )
• Sheared capillary waves on nanometer scales (Applicant Mecke, Klaus )
• Simulation study on scaling effects in nano- and microscale fluid dynamics at deformable metal surfaces (Applicant Raabe, Dierk )
• Single file Wassertransport durch peptidische Nanoporen (Applicant de Groot, Berend )
• Single file Wassertransport durch peptidische Nanoporen (Applicant Koert, Ulrich )
• Single file water transport across peptidic nanopores (Applicant Pohl, Peter )
• Slippage and Nanorheology of Simple and Complex Fluids in Confinement (Applicant Jacobs, Karin )
• Small-scale particle advection, manipulation and mixing: beyond the hydrodynamic scale (Applicant Straube, Arthur )
• Surface acoustic wave driven micro-flows: Flow control and transport of finite size particles (Applicant Wixforth, Achim )
• Surface acoustic wave driven micro-flows: Flow control and transport of finite size particles (Applicant Hänggi, Peter )
• Switchable Nano-Membranes From Stimuli-Responsive Block Copolymers (Applicant Krausch, Georg )
• Theoretical description of the dynamics of colloidal particles in flowing solvents near liquid-solid interfaces (Applicant Rauscher, Markus )
• Viscous dissipation in molecularly thin liquid films (Applicant Mugele, Frieder )

• Spokesperson: Professorin Dr. Karin Jacobs
• Deputy: Professor Dr.-Ing. Hendrik C. Kuhlmann