FIELDGRADIENTS (259205)

  https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/259205

  FP7 (2007-2013)

  Phase Transitions and Chemical Reactions in Electric Field Gradients

  ERC Starting Grant - Condensed matter physics (ERC-SG-PE3)

  microfluidics  ·  lab on a chip  ·  thermodynamics  ·  oncology  ·  chemical sciences

  2010-08-01 Start Date (YY-MM-DD)

  2015-07-31 End Date (YY-MM-DD)

  € 1,482,199 Total Cost

  Description

We will study phase transitions and chemical and biological reactions in liquid mixtures in electric field gradients. These new phase transitions are essential in statistical physics and thermodynamics. We will examine theoretically the complex and yet unexplored phase ordering dynamics in which droplets nucleate and move under the external nonuniform force. We will look in detail at the interfacial instabilities which develop when the field is increased. We will investigate how time-varying potentials produce electromagnetic waves and how their spatial decay in the bistable liquid leads to phase changes. These transitions open a new and general way to control the spatio-temporal behaviour of chemical reactions by directly manipulating the solvents' concentrations. When two or more reagents are preferentially soluble in one of the mixture's components, field-induced phase separation leads to acceleration of the reaction. When the reagents are soluble in different solvents, field-induced demixing will lead to the reaction taking place at a slow rate and at a two-dimensional surface. Additionally, the electric field allows us to turn the reaction on or off. The numerical study and simulations will be complemented by experiments. We will study theoretically and experimentally biochemical reactions. We will find how actin-related structures are affected by field gradients. Using an electric field as a tool we will control the rate of actin polymerisation. We will investigate if an external field can damage cancer cells by disrupting their actin-related activity. The above phenomena will be studied in a microfluidics environment. We will elucidate the separation hydrodynamics occurring when thermodynamically miscible liquids flow in a channel and how electric fields can reversibly create and destroy optical interfaces, as is relevant in optofluidics. Chemical and biological reactions will be examined in the context of lab-on-a-chip.

  Complicit Organisations

1 Israeli organisation participates in FIELDGRADIENTS.