Welcome
Welcome to the Soft Matter Interfaces and Energy Laboratory in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, headed by Dr. Siddhartha Das. The main research focus of the group is to devise new theoretical and numerical models to explain different fascinating physical phenomena related to soft matter and interfaces. Our research endeavour range from better understanding the colloidal dynamics in an ubiquitous drying coffee drop and the response of an elastomer to surface tension forces to pinpointing the interplay of rheology and electrohydrodynamics in relevant biophysical and micro-nanofluidic problems. The group is also involved in extensive collaborations in several projects with strong experimental components — the main focus of the group for such problems is to clearly identify and hypothesize the central phenomena dictating the experimental observations.
Cheerios Effect (Photo Credit: David Duprey/Associated Press)
January 2023: Paper accepted in ACS Applied Nano Materials
In this paper, we describe our fabrication of printable carbon-nanotube-based highly robust humidity sensors that…
November 2022: Paper accepted in The Journal of Physical Chemistry B
In this paper, we demonstrate the effect of screening counterion valence in the overall ion…
November 2022: Paper accepted in Soft Matter
In this paper, we employ machine learning to study the effect of polyelectrolyte brush induced…
November 2022: Beihan Zhao successfully defends his Ph.D. Dissertation
Beihan is the 8th Ph.D. graduating from my group. His thesis focused on developing a…
October 2022: SMIEL Ph.D. student Sai Ankit Etha selected as Finalist of the Padden Award Symposium (APS March meeting, 2023)
SMIEL Ph.D. student Sai Ankit Etha has been selected as a finalist for the Padden…
October 2022: Paper Accepted in Science Advances
In this collaborative work, we study the ion transport in copper-coordinated nanocellulose based structure. This…