Seminar DPE: Assoc. Prof. Tomáš Hoder

We cordially invite you to the lecture of Assoc. Prof. Tomáš Hoder, Ph.D., the head of the Department of Physical Electronics research group Plasma Diagnostics and Modelling.

Plasma-liquid interaction in a narrow gap

The dynamics of liquids flowing in microscopic volumes is very important to many biological and technological systems, including microfluidics, electrowetting, nutrition distribution in living organisms or coating processes. The viscosity and the surface tension of the transferred liquid are usually among the main parameters determining the micro-flow and are investigated in many scenarios.

We study the interaction of an atmospheric pressure air micro-plasma with a viscous liquid droplet in a narrow gap. The reduced surface tension and viscosity of the liquid droplet from local plasma-heating induce interfacial instability and radial fingering. We develop a model and experimentally demonstrate how the distribution of the plasma power density parameter leads to micro-flow, interface stretching, and to primary droplet fragmentation via capillary instability and end pinching.