Nature article on wall-less liquid ‘magnetic antitubes’ involving three fellows

Nature has just published an article on Liquid flow and control without solid walls. It is based on work by a trio of USIAS Fellows, Michael Coey, Bernard Doudin and Thomas Hermans - who had a joint project “Microfluidics without walls” that ran from 2014-2017 - and their post-docs Peter Dunne and Takuji Adachi.

The article focuses on the invention of a device in the form of a liquid tube without solid walls that allows other liquids to circulate on a microscopic scale, and uses the magnetic field to control tubes composed of nanoparticles of iron oxide. "With this system, there is less resistance, which allows more to be transported with less pressure and at the same speed, while allowing for an optimal preservation of the liquid’s properties", explains Peter Dunne.

• Read more about the background, practical applications and future plans in an article produced by the University of Strasbourg.
• Read the article “Liquid flow and control without solid walls” (Nature 581, 58–62 (2020), published 06/05/2020).
• Check out the short video that explains key concepts: