Dewetting characteristics of contact lenses coated with wetting agents.

Hypothesis: Although wetting agents have been developed to limit tear film dewetting over contact lenses, systematic analyses correlating wetting agent properties to mechanisms of the tear film destabilization are not readily available. Clarifying destabilization characteristics across key physio-chemical variables will provide a rational basis for identifying optimal wetting agents.

Experiments: We employ an in-house, in vitro platform to comprehensively evaluate drainage and dewetting dynamics of five wetting agents across seventeen different formulations and two model tear film solutions.

Clog-Free Trilobite Filtration: Tunable Flow Setup and Velocity Measurements.

The ability to separate and filter out microscopic objects lies at the core of many biomedical applications. However, a persistent problem is clogging, as biomaterials stick to the internal chip surface and limit device efficiency and liability. Here, we review an alternative technique that could solve these clogging issues.

Evaporation-induced Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities in polymer solutions.

Understanding the mechanics of detrimental convective instabilities in drying polymer solutions is crucial in many applications such as the production of film coatings. It is well known that solvent evaporation in polymer solutions can lead to Rayleigh-Bénard or Marangoni-type instabilities. Here, we reveal another mechanism, namely that evaporation can cause the interface to display Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities due to the build-up of a dense layer at the air-liquid interface.