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dr. M.H.G. Duits (Michael)

Associate Professor

About Me

MISSION

The research carried out in the PCF group under my (co-) supervision is aimed at understanding how macroscopic behaviors of soft matter originate from the microscopic interactions between the (molecular or colloidal) constituents. Dissemination of the obtained insights via conferences and peer reviewed papers is an integral part of this research. I also consider it important to enthuse students and young researchers, and prepare them for a career in either science or engineering.

CURRENT RESEARCH AREA: Soft Matter, Colloids, Interfaces, Microfluidics, Particle Tracking, Rheology.

The field of soft matter is very much alive, with ongoing developments in both the materials (complexity and functionality) and the applications of external fields to manipulate their behavior. Within this scope, I focus on soft matter at different length scales (from ions to colloids to liquid drops) at interfaces. Both solid and liquid interfaces provide a template for adsorption, ordering and wetting, and consequences hereof can also be found further away from the interface. These physico-chemical behaviors are studied on the microscale with confocal microscopy, microfluidics and surface techniques like AFM, ellipsometry and QCM.

In the future I want to expand along these lines. A particular interest will be to increase our understanding of the effects of roughness (particles and/or substrates) and spatial confinement (by solid or liquid interfaces) on the interactions, dynamics and assembly of colloids at and near the interface. This should provide fundamental insights, with an outlook on applications in areas like coatings, emulsification, filtration, etc.

Expertise

Engineering & Materials Science
Brines
Carbonates
Contact Angle
Microfluidics
Minerals
Oils
Water
Wetting

Publications

Recent
Le, D. A. (2023). Microfluidic chips for oil recovery from carbonate reservoirs at elevated temperatures. [PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT, University of Twente]. University of Twente. https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036555043
Sîretanu, I. , Mendel, N. , Mugele, F., Siretanu, D. , Brilman, D. W. F. , Rao, A. , & Duits, M. (2021). Clay- and olivine-based strategies for CO2 mitigation. Poster session presented at NWO CHAINS 2022, Veldhoven, Netherlands.
Rao, A. , Mugele, F. , & Duits, M. (2021). Reactivity of Mineral-Water Interfaces: A Game-changer for Adsorption.. Poster session presented at NWO CHAINS 2021, Veldhoven, Netherlands.
Nair, S. (2021). Fast and non-invasive Raman imaging of material distributions at interfaces. [PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT, University of Twente]. University of Twente. https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036553124
Ilhan, B. (2021). Role of Surface Roughness in Colloidal Dynamics of Dense Suspensions. [PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT, University of Twente]. University of Twente. https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036553087

UT Research Information System

Contact Details

Visiting Address

University of Twente
Faculty of Science and Technology
Horst Complex (building no. 20), room ME158
De Horst 2
7522LW  Enschede
The Netherlands

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Mailing Address

University of Twente
Faculty of Science and Technology
Horst Complex  ME158
P.O. Box 217
7500 AE Enschede
The Netherlands