Michael Coey

Fellowship 2014

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Michael Coey is Professor Emeritus in the School of Physics at Trinity College, Dublin where he previously held the Erasmus Smith’s Chair of Natural and Experimental Philosophy. He leads the Magnetism and Spin Electronics group at TCD. An authority on magnetism and its applications, his contributions include a systematic investigation of magnetism in amorphous solids, magnetic order in minerals, the discovery of interstitial hard magnets, work on the relation between magnetism and charge transport in conducting oxides and development of the field of magnetoelectrochemistry. Ireland's most cited physicist, Michael Coey is the author of 650 scientific papers, 20 patents and several books, including Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, (Cambridge University Press, 2010). He founded Magnetic Solutions Ltd, the TCD Science Gallery and was a promoter of CRANN, Ireland’s Nanoscience Research Centre. His honours include fellowship of the Royal Society, Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences, and an honorary degree from the University of Grenoble. He was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Irish Academy in 2005 for his contributions to magnetism. Current research is focused on spin-dependent electron transport, magnetic nanostructures, magnetoelectrochemistry and novel magnetic materials.

In memoriam: USIAS was saddened to learn of Professor Coey's passing in October 2025.

Microfluidics without walls

USIAS Fellows : Michael Coey, Bernard Doudin et Thomas Hermans
Post-doc: Takuji Adachi and Peter Dunne

Microfluidics deals with the behavior, control and manipulation of fluids that are geometrically constrained. This is usually achieved using micro-fabricated sub-mm scale molds made of glass, plastic, or polymeric elastomers. We propose here a radically different approach, using magnetic forces to constrain the flow of liquids. This concept was pioneered by USIAS fellow M. Coey in 2010 (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 106(22): 8811–8817), who showed how paramagnetic ‘liquid tubes’ can be created at the vicinity of a ferromagnetic guiding substrate. Our project aims at realizing a proof-of-principle demonstrator, using a magnetized circuit to constrain the flow of liquids and provide efficient mixing capabilities. Our long-term ambition is to take advantage of the technical developments in nanomagnetism and spintronics, in order to create a new type of microfluidic cell. This would allow fluidic manipulation and control beyond those possible on geometrically constrained flow circuits, with possible high impact for chemistry and life sciences applications.