MechE Seminar Series: Jeffrey L. Moran

Speaker: Jeffrey L. Moran

Title: From Mixing Heat to Cleaning Water: Novel Applications of Active Soft Matter

Abstract: Artificial micromotors are microscopic objects that use ambient energy to propel themselves in liquids. In the last twenty years, micromotors have attracted significant interest owing to their unique capabilities and potential for applications in medicine, environmental remediation, sensing, and more. I will present two vignettes from our group’s quest to develop novel micromotor systems for specific applications. First, we introduce “active heat transfer fluids,” which are liquid coolants containing micromotors, and demonstrate that the micromotors’ motion induces convective mixing, enabling significant (>75%) enhancements in the convective heat transfer coefficient compared to the same particles without propulsion. Second, we present “CoffeeBots,” which are water-cleaning micromotors derived from spent coffee grounds decorated with magnetite nanoparticles. Moving under magnetic guidance, CoffeeBots can remove various pollutants from water, including oil, microplastics, dyes, and herbicides. In both projects, the common theme is micromotors’ ability to enhance transport of mass and energy through liquids, potentially enabling major advances in energy efficiency and water remediation.

About the Speaker: Jeffrey L. Moran is Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at George Mason University. He received his undergraduate and master’s degrees from Arizona State University and his doctorate from the University of Washington before conducting postdoctoral research at MIT. At Mason, he leads an interdisciplinary team that strives to understand and exploit thermal-fluid transport in active, soft, and living matter for applications in energy, environmental remediation, and theranostics.