Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation

Ferrofluidic manipulator for particles and droplets

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Ferrofluidic manipulator
Ferrofluid manipulator: manipulating small-scale non-magnetic objects at the air-ferrofluid interface.

By magnetically deforming the air-liquid interface of magnetic liquid, we discovered new motion mechanisms for trapping nonmagnetic particles besides pushing them. Addtionally, we have developed a ferrofluidic manipulator that can manipulate nonmagnetic particles on the air-liquid interface. The feerofluidic manipulator is versatile with the materials and the shapes of the objects under manipulation. We have successfully manipulated particles made of polyethylene, polystyrene, a silicon chip, and poppy and sesame seeds.

Automatic path-following manipulation of a polyethylene (PE) and a polystyrene (PS) particle, a silicon (Si) chip; a poppy seed and sesame in writing the letters “AALTO.” Trajectory (in yellow) is down sampled three times. Scale bar is 2 mm.
Automatic path-following manipulation of a polyethylene (PE) and a polystyrene (PS) particle, a silicon (Si) chip; a poppy seed and sesame in writing the letters “AALTO.” Trajectory (in yellow) is down sampled three times. Scale bar is 2 mm.
Ferrofludic manipulator shaping a hexadecane droplet
Ferrofluidic manipulator shaping a hexadecane droplet (scale bar 2 mm)

We can also use the ferrofluidic manipulator to squeeze, rotate, and shape nonmagnetic liquids on an air−ferrofluid interface with programmable deformation. We can control the aspect ratio of the ellipse and generate repeatable quasi-static shapes of a hexadecane oil droplet. We can rotate droplets and stir liquids into spiral-like structures. We can also shape phase-changing liquids and fabricate shape-programmed thin films at the air−ferrofluid interface. 

Selected publications:

  1. Cenev, Zoran; Harischandra, P. A. Diluka; Nurmi, Seppo; Latikka, Mika; Hyninen, Ville; Ras, Robin A.; Timonen, Jaakko V.I.; Zhou, Quan, "Ferrofluidic Manipulator Automatic Manipulation of Non-magnetic Microparticles at Air-Ferrofluid Interface", IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 26(4), pp. 1932-1940, 2021. 
  2. Cenev, Z., Würger, A. and Zhou, Q., “Motion and Trapping of Micro-and Millimeter Spheroid Particles on the Air-Paramagnetic Liquid Interface”, Physical Review E, 103, L010601, 2021.
  3. Cenev, Z.M., Havu, V., Timonen, J.V. and Zhou, Q., "Ferrofluidic Manipulator: Theoretical Model for Single-Particle Velocity", IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 28(5), pp. 2679-2689, 2023.
  4. Harischandra, P.D., Välisalmi, T., Cenev, Z.M., Linder, M.B. and Zhou, Q., "Shaping Liquid Droplets on an Active Air–Ferrofluid Interface", Langmuir, 39(22), pp. 7623–7631, 2023.
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