Dr. L. Botto

My group is interested in flow and interfacial phenomena at the interface between fluid mechanics and materials physics.

We investigate the dynamics of small particles (colloids and nanoparticles) in liquids, including the dynamics of 2D materials (graphene), wetting and surface tension phenomena, seeking to drive the fluid dynamics community to make a mark in new high-tech applications: batteries, 2D chips, Critical Raw Materials recovery, etc. Current work for instance aims at investigating problems related to the interaction of graphene with flowing liquids (liquid-phase exfoliation, wet transfer), as well as tackling fluid dynamics problems of interest to the semiconductor industry (wetting in heat pipes for ultrafast thermal transfer). 

Lorenzo Botto obtained his PhD research in fluid mechanics under the supervision of Prof. Andrea Prosperetti (Johns Hopkins University, USA), developing one of the first DNS simulations of finite-inertia particulate flows. He learned interfacial phenomena and colloids from a leading world-expert in the field,  Prof. Kathleen Stebe (University of Pennsylvania, USA), and has pioneered studies on the dynamics of anisotropic particles embedded in fluid interfaces. 

The areas of strength of the group are: i) the hydrodynamics of colloidal/nanoparticle systems in bulk liquids (in shear and in sedimentation/centrifugation) and ii) the behaviour of collodal or inertial particles at fluid interfaces (for application to solid-stabilised or protein-stabilised emulsions, froth flotation, and free-surface flows involving particulate contaminations); wetting and surface tension phenomena

Fluid mechanicians should use their strengths (which are many!) to provide answers to pressing problems of society. Some problems the group is tackling are for example the extraction of critical raw materials from spent batteries via leaching and the removal of microplastics from the environment. 

Keywords: multiphase flows; complex fluid interfaces; particulate and molecular surfactants; colloidal hydrodynamics; numerical and mathematical methods

Current projects: fluid dynamics of graphene; particle sorting by centrifugation; flow-based methods for battery recycling; microplastics reduction.

Funding: Dutch funding agency NWO (e-Heat, MicroWash); European Research Council (FlexNanoFlow project and SludgeCam project); Dutch Enterprise Agency RVO (CRM Lion project)

For further information: https://bottogroup.wordpress.com/

My Scholar publication list: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=16ae8r4AAAAJ&hl=nl&oi=sra

Biography

2019-now: Associate Professor, TU Delft
2013-2019: Assistant and Associate Professor, Queen Mary University of London
2012-2013: postdoc, Imperial College, UK (Prof.  Yun Xu)
2009-2012: postdoc, University of Pennsylvania, USA  (supervisor: Prof. Kathleen J. Stebe)
2003-2009: PhD in fluid dynamics, Johns Hopkins University, USA (supervisor: Prof. A. Prosperetti)