Dr Ciro Semprebon

Vice-Chancellor Fellow

Department: Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering

I joined Northumbria as Vice-Chancellor fellow in the MDRT of Future Engineering in 2016. I graduated as a Doctor in Physics in Padova (Italy) in 2009. I then moved to Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organisation (MPI-DS) in Göttingen (Germany). More recently I worked as a post-doc in the Department of Physics at Durham University and in the department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Edinburgh.

Campus Address

Northumbria University
Ellison Building
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 8ST

Email Ciro

Qualifications

PhD in Physics, Dipl. In Physics

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

My research focus is wetting phenomena in complex geometries and its coupling with fluid dynamics, and elastic media. I theoretically investigate wetting of soft materials employing a wide range of numerical methods, including Lattice Boltzmann, Monte Carlo, Molecular Dynamics, Finite Elements and Immersed Boundary techniques. The physics of wetting is fundamental to control the ability of materials to attract or repel liquids, which in turn plays a key role in a wide range of commercial and technological applications.

Sponsors and Collaborators

I have scientific collaborations with various groups in UK and Overseas. Within Northumbria I work with prof. Glen McHale, Rodrigo-Ledesma Aguilar and Dr. Gary Wells. Within UK I collaborate with Dr Halim Kusumaatmaja at Durham University and Dr. Timm Krüger at the University of Edinburgh. I also collaborate with Dr. Martin Brinkmann at the Universität des Saarlandes (Saarbrücken, Germany), Prof. Giampaolo Mistura at the University of Padova (Italy) and Prof. Kuo-Long Pan at the National Taiwan University. My work is supported by the company Procter & Gamble.

Key Publications

Liquid morphologies and capillary forces between three spherical beads", C. Semprebon, M. Scheel, S. Herminghaus, R. Seemann, M. Brinkmann. Phys. Rev. E, 2016, 94, 012907.

Deviation of sliding drops at a chemical step", C. Semprebon, S. Varagnolo, D. Filippi, L. Perlini, M.Pierno, M. Brinkmann, G. Mistura. Soft Matter, 2016, 12, 8268.

Apparent contact angle and contact angle hysteresis on liquid infused surfaces", C. Semprebon, G.McHale, H. Kusumaatmaja. Soft Matter, 2016 DOI: 10.1039/c6sm00920d.

Free energy Lattice Boltzmann approach for ternary systems", C. Semprebon, T. Krüger, H. Kusumaatmaja. Phys. Rev. E, 2016, 93, 033305.

Stability Limits of Capillary Bridges: How Contact Angle Hysteresis Affects Morphology Transitions of Liquid Microstructures", R. de Ruiter, C. Semprebon, M. van Gorcum, M. H. G. Duits, M. Brinkmann, F. Mugele, Phys. Rev. Letters, 2015, 114, 234501.

Pinning and wicking in regular pillar arrays", C. Semprebon, P. Forsberg, C. Priest, M. Brinkmann, Soft Matter, 2014, 10, 5739-5748.