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Dr Chiara Neto

Lecturer

Contact Details

School of Chemistry, Building F11
The University of Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia
E-mail address: chiara.neto@sydney.edu.au
Fax: +61-2-9351-3329
Home Page: http://sydney.edu.au/science/chemistry/~chiara

Career Profile:

  • BSc(Hons), University of Florence, Italy, 1998

  • PhD, University of Florence, Italy, 2001

  • Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Ulm and Saarland University, Germany, 2002-2003

  • Research Fellow, Australian National University, 2003-2006

  • Lecturer, The University of Sydney, 2007-

Areas of interest:

  • Thin liquid films

  • Patterning of surfaces for biological applications

  • Direct measurement of surface forces

  • Interfacial slip in simple liquids

  • Self-assembly of surfactants and nano-particles at interfaces

  • Atomic force microscopy (AFM)

Research:

My research can be summarised under three strongly connected headings:

1. Dewettinghin of thin liquid films. What forces stabilise thin liquid films on solid substrates and what surface patterns are created as a consequence of their dewetting? Can we use this simple and spontaneous process to pattern proteins and biological molecules on solid substrates?
2. Adsorption on solid substrates. Using the Atomic Force Microscope for high-resolution imaging, we study the adsorption of molecular aggregates, such as DNA molecules, nano-particles, and self-assembled aggregates, in situ and non-invasively.
3. Micro-fluidics. With the colloid probe AFM we can measure hydrodynamic forces; we have been among the first to show the occurrence of boundary slip in simple liquids, and quantified the effect of surface properties on liquid slip. These findings are relevant for the micro-control of liquid flow and in confined biological systems.

Publications (2009 - 2010):

  • Huyang, G; Canning, J; Gibson, BC; Khoury, T; Sum, TJ; Neto, C and Crossley, MJ. Focused ion beam processing and engineering of devices in self-assembled supramolecular structures. Nanotechnology, 20 (48), 485301 (6pp), 2009. DOI: 10.1088/0957-4484/20/48/485301

  • Neto, C; Joseph, KR and Brant, WR. On the superhydrophobic properties of nickel nanocarpets. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 11 (41), 9537-9544, 2009. DOI: 10.1039/b909899b

  • Sriprom, W; James, M; Perrier, S and Neto, C. Ordered microphase separation in thin films of PMMA-PBA synthesized by RAFT: Effect of block polydispersity. Macromolecules, 42 (8), 3138-3146, 2009. DOI: 10.1021/ma9004428

  • Neto, C; James, M and Telford, AM. On the composition of the top layer of microphase separated thin PS-PEO films. Macromolecules, 42 (13), 4801-4808, 2009. DOI: 10.1021/ma900690e