Secondment to the University of Trento

Richard Loffler participated in the secondment at the Department of cellular, computational and integrative biology (CIBIO) at the University of Trento. There he could take advantage of the local equipment and personnel to start a new project related to his thesis, regarding the study of crowding behavior of self-propelled droplets as well as continue an ongoing project on a new self-propelled solid but malleable material. For that Richard needed to use the local equipment of specialized fast cameras and tensiometers.

Richard managed to collect a lot of data. The new project revolved around a system of self-organizing/clustering of Ethyl Salycilate droplets on a surfactant surface. Specifically, the effects of different degrees of crowding, size of droplets and also the very curious effect of different dyes which, even at very low concentrations, change the behavior of the clustering droplets, were studied. The data obtained during his secondment will result in at least one research paper.

Additionally, Richard Loffler expanded his network substantially while there and possibly having an opportunity to continue his work there once he finish his PhD-program and obtain his degree.

The further research will revolve around a new self-propelled system Richard discovered during this time which consists of two droplets chasing each other. He plans to obtain a mathematical model of this behavior based on the investigation Richard have and will continue to perform, on the surface interactions of the different substances involved in this system.

Dates

16 Sep.2019 - 31 Aug., 2020

Location

Trento, Italy

Participant

Richard Loffler