Plenary speaker Prof. Dr. Doris Vollmer

Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Germany

Soft matter science and wetting: My scientific background is in physical chemistry. I studied physics at the University of Bielefeld, the ETH Zurich (Switzerland) and the University of Utrecht (The Netherlands). For many years, I investigated structural and thermodynamic transitions in microemulsions, polyelectrolytes and colloids. Since 2009 my research has been mainly concerned with fundamental and applied problems in wetting of superhydrophobic, superamphiphobic, liquid-like and slippery surfaces. We introduced laser scanning confocal microscopy as a novel and extremely powerful tool to explore static and dynamic properties of (multicomponent) liquids on hydrophobic surfaces. We prepared the first cheap and up scalable superoleophobic surface. Aqueous and oil drops do not stick but roll off easily. We aim to fabricate, characterize and understand super-liquid repellent properties by combining synthesis with complementary experimental techniques and modeling by mean-field descriptions.