Lydéric BocquetThe thousand potential applications of fluid control on the nanoscale

Producing electricity, desalinating seawater, and removing alcohol from beverages are just some of the applications growing out of the basic research conducted by Lydéric Bocquet, a CNRS Senior Researcher1  and pioneer in nanofluidics. This field, at the intersection of fluid mechanics and molecular and even quantum physics, allows him to create devices with innovative properties, membranes in particular. Bocquet has filed twelve patents and founded four start-ups: Sweetch Energy in 2015 and Hummink in 2020, along with Altr and Ilion. They offer solutions through diverse applications such as nanometric printing, removing alcohol from beverages such as beer and wine, desalinating seawater at lower cost or producing renewable energy with a membrane that utilises the difference in salt concentration between seawater and river water. Bocquet also serves as a scientific consultant for French industrial groups such as Saint-Gobain and Plastic Omnium, while developing his research in other areas including quantum engineering of nanofluid flows, and designing ionic nanomachines reproducing certain biological functions.

• 1At the Physics Laboratory of l’École normale supérieure (LPENS, CNRS/ENS-PSL/Sorbonne Université/Univ. Paris Cité).