The project aims to design, fabricate and test the next generation of low-energy surfaces in order to combat a range of issues that can have a significant impact across a multitude of industries. For instance, controlling water condensation and freezing on surfaces can vastly improve the efficiency of heat exchange systems, which suffer from a reduction in the efficiency by up to 70% as a result of ice formation. Furthermore, ice formation on aircraft wings affects the flow distribution and can consequently impact the safety. Another goal is to resist high speed droplet impacts which would help to prevent metal surfaces from eroding. Steam turbine engines are greatly affected by this, as well as high speed aircraft.Reflectivity is also a property which the smart nanoengineered surfaces aims to tackle; thereby improving the efficiency of solar cells and controlling the heat in smart buildings, thus reducing the costs associated with heating and cooling. Another property that will be targeted is biofouling; an issue spanning many different industries, in particular the marine and oil industry.
Sophia completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Bristol where she obtained an MSci in Chemistry. Her Masters Research project was focussed on the synthesis and solution phase self-assembly of polyferrocenylsilane (PFS) containing block copolymers, into non-spherical micelle morphologies, in order to extrude a nanostructured filament of aligned micelles. Currently, Sophia is undertaking a PhD at UCL in the Electronic and Electrical Engineering department, where she is working on a new class of multifunctional nanoengineered superhydrophobic surfaces.
I. Papakonstantinou (IP) is Professor of Photonics and Nanofabrication at UCL. His group specialises in nanophotonic modelling and fabrication. He has established the first nanoimprint lithography and the first laser interference lithography facilities in London and has recently won an EPSRC grant to set-up a 3D-nanoprinting facility. Previously, he worked for Sharp Laboratories of Europe on nano-optics for liquid crystal displays and at CERN-European Organisation for Nuclear Physics
Dr. M.K. Tiwari is a Lecturer (UCL Mechanical Engineering), a member of EPSRC’s early career forum in advanced manufacturing research and an ERC starting grant holder focussing on robust surfaces for anti-icing and condensation. He will offer the required manufacturing and icing/condensation expertise as well unique characterisation facilities including a high-speed camera for dynamic experiments of water impact. Previously he was a Group Leader at the Laboratory of Thermodynamics in Emerging Technologies at ETH-Zurich.
Prof. Ivan P. Parkin is the MAPS Faculty Dean and world renowned chemist and expert on coating deposition methods. He has been awarded over 10 medals and prizes by learned societies and has been recipient of a Tilden Prize and Wolfson Merit award. In 2014 he was the recipient of the Royal Society Armours and Braziers prize and in 2015 the Griffiths medal of IOM3. He will offer the required surface functionalisation and smart coatings expertise.
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