Three new DREAM Lab members
The DREAM lab is pleased to announce three new members – Mehdi, Adel, and Tao. Our three latest members will be working on exciting topics including triboelectric nano generators, next-generation catalysis, and liquid-repellent coatings for everyday life. Welcome to the DREAM Team!
Editor’s Highlight
Sonia’s work on smart LIT materials has been selected by the Editor of Nature Communications as one of the top 50 highlights of 2022. Once again, excellent work Sonia! https://www.nature.com/collections/eecgdgijhh Publication: Smart low interfacial toughness coatings for on-demand de-icing without melting
LIT µWave Paper Published!
What started as a small project for Defence has now become an excellent study published in Nature Communications. Zahra (Sonia) and co-authors show that the interfacial toughness of ice with polyethylene (UHMW-PE) is temperature dependent. By teaming up with the OMEGA Lab at UBC, we embedded heaters and ice sensors into the polyethylene to make… Read more »
Mosquito paper published!
What if you could make disease-transmitting mosquitoes unhappy without killing them or other organisms? What if you could convince them to live away from humans. The DREAM Lab might just have the answer! Letícia’s latest paper shows that there is a natural limit to how smooth a surface can be before mosquitoes just can’t grip… Read more »
Two more BEAMS papers
The DREAM Lab has just published two more studies on our metallic de-icing technology BEAMS. In “Durable Metallic Surfaces Capable of Passive and Active De-icing” Kamran and co-authors explored transforming BEAMS from a passive to an active de-icing technology. Now BEAMS is capable of de-icing passively, using pressurized air (like a de-icing boot), and using… Read more »
Global SEED Project Featured
The DREAM Lab was recently awarded a SEED grant from the Centre for Global Engineering at the University of Toronto on the development of anti-mosquito paint. We’re super excited to continue to try and contribute towards the fight against vector transmitted diseases like malaria, dengue, and zika. Link to story: https://news.engineering.utoronto.ca/mosquito-repellent-paint-among-five-projects-funded-by-cgen-seed-grant-program/
Snow-phobic surfaces
Our latest study has just been published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. We’ve figured out how to synergistically combine the properties of thermal insulation with superhydrophobicity in order to fabricate surfaces that snow cannot re-freeze (and therefore stick) to! Excellent work Xiaoxiao, Kamran, and Cory! Check out: Thermal Insulation and Superhydrophobicity Synergies for Passive… Read more »
Face Mask Feature
Prof. Golovin sat down with Lynsey Mellon to discuss the DREAM Lab’s latest research on face mask discomfort. The story even made it to the front page of the entire university! https://www.utoronto.ca/news/are-more-protective-masks-less-comfortable-not-long-they-fit-properly-study-finds
Face Mask Paper
Face masks have become a staple in our lives over the past few years. Anecdotally, there appears to be an inverse consensus between mask protection and mask comfort, i.e. the safer the mask the more uncomfortable it will be. Is this actually the case? Well, we put it to the test! While all face masks… Read more »
Crosslinking PDMS brushes!
Our collaborative work with the Wulff group at UVic has finally been published in the Chemical Engineering Journal! We’ve found a way to crosslink inert PDMS brushes, one of the group’s favourite technologies that we’ve developed. Crosslinking improves the mechanical resilience of the brushes and maintains their omniphobic and anti-fouling properties. Great work Xiaoxiao and… Read more »
