Patterned superhydrophobic surfaces also have the promises for the lab-on-a-chip, microfluidic devices and can drastically improve the surface based bioanalysis.
The control of suspensions, foams, and emulsions has application for the development of everything from novel drug delivery systems to lab-on-a-chip devices.
In mechanical microdevices, this method of transport moves fluids without a separate pump -- saving precious space in lab-on-a-chip and futuristic organ-on-a-chip devices.
The use of parallel channels illustrates how a real lab-on-a-chip device allows a single reagent (or multiple reagents) to be tested many times at once.
Except magnetic activated cell sorting, technologies such as fluorescence activated cell sorting and gradient centrifugation techniques, sieving, panning chromatography and lab-on-a-chip are currently under development.
Hart also thinks major areas for new products are energy (batteries, solar cells) and medicine (anti-microbial coatings, and lab-on-a-chip sensors using nanomaterials).