Lewis Group

Post-docs

Bok Yeop Ahn Korea University, Ph.D

Scott Slimmer University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Ph.D My research focuses on conformal printing of electrically small antennas on three-dimensional surfaces. I use omnidirectional printing of metallic nanoparticle inks to fabricate three-dimensional antennas that are smaller than the wavelength at their operating frequency. The results of this project may be relevant to the design and fabrication of new antennas and compact wireless devices that would improve the quality of data transmission in numerous applications. This research is a collaborative effort with Prof. Jennifer Bernhard's group in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering here at Illinois.

Yongxiang Gao McGill University, Ph.D I am interested in the phase behavior, structure, dynamics and rheology of colloidal rod suspensions with tunable rod aspect ratios and interactions. Rod-shape particles are important in many practical applications, such as high-tech ink design and paper industry. Due to their elongated shape, they are efficient in regulating mechanical properties. They are also important for their own sake because they can serve as model systems to understand fundamental physics of hard rods with or without attraction, such as equilibrium isotropic fluid to liquid crystals transitions and non-equilibrium glass and gel transitions.

Jaime Juarez Johns Hopkins University, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Ph.D I study the assembly of anisotropic colloids and microfluidics for encapsulation.

Graduate students

David Lorang Georgia Institute of Technology, BS I work on expanding direct-write capability in the area of simultaneous patterning of multiple inks, enabling the creation of novel structures and composites. I have applied this technique to the creation of optical waveguides from photo-curable Newtonian fluids through the use of a fugitive viscoelastic shell. I am also studying the behavior of concentric two-phase flow in different fluid systems.

Brett Walker Oklahoma State University, BS

Analisa Russo Massachusetts Institute of Technology, BS I make low-temperature conductive silver inks for direct writing of circuits onto flexible substrates. I work with Ashley on constructing large area devices on polyimide using Direct Ink Writing. I also work on drawing unique electronic devices on paper by rollerball pen, and co-authored a paper on this technology with Bok. Currently, I am studying the properties of functional particle-based inks that make them suitable for drawing with handheld tools.

Lucas Osterbur Hope College, BS

John Vericella University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, BS

Aaron Chan University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, BS

David Kolesky University of Florida, Materials Science and Engineering, BS I am currently working on creating micro-energetic materials with tailored architectures via direct ink writing (DIW) of highly ordered oxide structures that are in-filled with a metal fuel. These composite materials are capable of releasing large amounts of stored chemical energy upon ignition. This work is in collaboration with a great team at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. I am also working with Steve on developing multinozzle arrays for quickly patterning parallel features over large areas.

Steve Kranz Arizona State University, Materials Science and Engineering, BS I use a 3-axis CNC mill to machine a bifurcating array of microfluidic channels into a PMMA block. I solvent weld this block to another piece of PMMA to create a device used to split a single stream of ink into 64 streams of equal flow. David K. and I use this device (a "multinozzle" as we call it) to extrude a fugitive viscoelastic ink in a wood-pile pattern over a large area. We fill in the voids of the printed structure with epoxy, cure the epoxy, and remove the original fugitive ink.

Ashley Gupta University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, BS I work on a DARPA funded project with Analisa on the direct-write assembly of metallic interconnects for photovoltaic concentrator arrays. The device our collaborators are making is a rollable solar cell array composed of all flexible and lightweight materials. Our role is to integrate the printing of conductive patterns between the patches of Indium Gallium Phosphide photovoltaic cells to wire the 4x4" device.

Kundan Chaudhary Illinois Wesleyan University, Physics, BS I study the behavior of anisotropic colloidal particles in electric fields.

Teng-Sing (Sean) Wei University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, BS

Bethany Glesner University of Michigan, Materials Science and Engineering, BS I am developing metallic inks and manufacturing methods to produce electronic components on flexible substrates quickly and accurately. With high-throughput printing all aspects of the system including ink chemistry, deposition method, and substrate preparation need to be optimized for precise and efficient features.

Josh Grolman University of Massachusetts, BS Our goal is to develop novel materials for targeted release of actives: mainly focused on macromolecular synthesis and characterization toward new, structured materials and nano-scale devices. Using microfluidic devices, we are able to possess fine control over hierarchal material composition and order, and develop materials with special 'smart' surface functionalities in a high-throughput format. It is at the interface, where much fascinating science remains to be discovered.

Dan Reilly Penn State University, Chemical Engineering, BS I am a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in chemical engineering. The main areas of my research are encapsulation and controlled release of active chemicals. I use direct write assembly to produce encapsulating filament or droplet shells that surrounds an active core. In addition, I use microfluidic systems to create emulsion droplets to serve as encapsulating agents. The materials used to encapsulate can be made of responsive chemicals that allow for a controllable release of the core.