Soft matter
Morphing materials
Soft structures can easily change their shapes via liquid transportation such as capillary flows, diffusion, and osmosis. Such fluid-solid interaction can be observed in the swelling of cellulose sponges, capillary-induced deformation, and clustering of wet hair. We study the interplay between fluid flows and solid deformation. Based on the fundamental studies, we develop new materials that can change shape or properties more quickly, efficiently, and precisely, as well as to understand how these materials can be used in a wide range of applications, such as robotics, aerospace, and biomedical devices.
Elastocapillary
Drying of fine hair and fibers induces dramatic capillary-driven deformation, with important implications on natural phenomena and industrial processes. We recently observed peculiar self-assembly of hair bundles into various distinct patterns depending on the interplay between the bundle length and the liquid drain rate. Here, we propose a mechanism for this pattern selection, and derive and validate theoretical scaling laws for the polymorphic self-assembly of polygonal hair bundles. Understanding the mechanism of dynamic elastocapillarity offers insights for studying the complicated physics of wet granular drying.
Soft robotics
Microrobots that are light and agile yet require no artificial power input can be widely used in medical, military, and industrial applications. We explore and developt unusual robotic systems composed of soft materials. Soft robots have a wide range of potential applications due to their flexibility and ability to adapt to their environment.
Shin, et al. Sci. Robot., 2018
Cooking science
Cooking connects us to science every day. We explore various chemical and physical reactions observed in cooking materials (e.g. adhesion of pasta, yogurt crack patterns). Recently, we have theoretically and experimentally investigated the capillary adhesion of cooked pasta.
