Light for Life: Harnessing Microbubble Lithography (MBL) for Patterning, Sensing, and Bio-Interface Engineering

Ranjan, Anand Dev (2025) Light for Life: Harnessing Microbubble Lithography (MBL) for Patterning, Sensing, and Bio-Interface Engineering. PhD thesis, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata.

Text (PhD thesis of Anand Dev Ranjan (20RS068)) 20RS068.pdf - Submitted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (4MB)

Abstract

Bubbles are ubiquitous in nature and daily life - from waterfalls and oceans to kitchen pans and carbonated drinks. Though familiar, they arise from thermodynamic and fluid-dynamic phenomena in which heat, pressure, and interfacial forces govern nucleation, growth, and transport. This thesis harnesses those principles at the microscale, using a tightly focused laser to create and control microbubbles as reconfigurable tools for patterning, sensing, and biointerface engineering. It develops Microbubble Lithography (MBL), a light-driven, maskless platform that uses laser-generated microbubbles to transport, concentrate, and pattern micro and nanoscale matter in liquids with micrometer precision. The work is organized into three parts to move from fundamentals to function. Part I establishes the physics and control of light-microbubble systems and distills design rules for microbubble-driven self-assembly. Part II applies those rules to shape non-living materials – focusing on semiconducting polymers, organic frameworks and related architectures – thus linking interface engineering to optical, electronic and catalytic function. Part III translates the platform to living bio-interfaces (proteins, bacteria, viruses) and integrates label-free sensing by fabricating plasmonic SERS substrates via microbubble-mediated nanoparticle patterning. Employing these observations, MBL produces reproducible micro architectures in soft, aqueous environments without harsh chemistries or fixed masks, enabling high-fidelity patterns of non-living materials and controlled spatial organization of biological entities under biocompatible conditions. The integration with Raman spectroscopy yields engineered plasmonic substrates that support sensitive, label-free chemical and biosensing at nanomolar concentrations. Collectively, the thesis shows how optical inputs can be converted into deterministic structure formation and functional readouts across abiotic and biotic domains, providing a general pathway from light to structure to function - Light for Life.

Actions (login required)

View Item