Our research focus is not only on investigating fundamentals of small-scale fluidic and interfacial phenomena such as electrowetting, triboelectricity, and micro/nanofluidic interaction with photonics, but also developing novel nanomaterials and integrated micro/nano systems for following applications:
1. Optics applications
- High-degree beam steering via a liquid prism
- An optofluidic tunable Fresnel lens enabling 3D focal control
2. Energy applications
- Optofluidic solar power technologies: concentrated solar energy, solar indoor lighting, and solar spectrum splitting for sustainable buildings
- Triboelectric energy harvesting from waste water sources (e.g. raindrop, waterfall, ocean wave, etc.)
- Development of high-capacitance dielectric and hydrophobic materials for enhanced energy applications
3. Health and environmental applications
- Lab-on-a-Smartphone (LOS): an optofluidic portable device for automated sample preparation and on-chip microscopic detection
- Smartphone-integrated environmental monitoring for on-site and real-time air/water quality detection
- A smartphone integrated paper (SIP)-based platform for rapid and on-site screening of urinary tract infections (UTIs)