Related papers: Mesophases in Nearly 2D Room-Temperature Ionic Liq…
Room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) are solvent with unusual properties, which are difficult to characterize experimentally because of their intrinsic complexity (large number of atoms, strong Coulomb interactions). Molecular simulations…
The phase transition of confined fluids in mesoporous materials deviates from that of bulk fluids due to the interactions with the surrounding heterogeneous structure. For example, adsorbed fluids in metal-organic-frameworks (MOFs) have…
The exceptional physicochemical properties and versatile biological activities of ionic liquids (ILs) have propelled their potential applications in various industries, including pharmaceuticals and green chemistry. However, their…
Two-dimensional nematics possess peculiar properties that have been studied recently using computer simulation and various theoretical models. Here we review our own contribution to the field using density-functional theory, and present…
Mesoporous systems are ubiquitous in membrane science and applications due to their high internal surface area and tunable pore size. A new synthesis pathway of hydrolytic ionosilica films with mesopores formed by ionic liquid (IL)…
In a pressure-temperature (P-T) diagram for synthesizing IrTe2 compounds, the well-studied trigonal (H) phase with the CdI2-type structure is stable at low pressures. The superconducting cubic (C) phase can be synthesized under higher…
Hydrogen bond patterns, proton ordering, and phase transitions of monolayer ice in two-dimensional hydrophobic confinement are fundamentally different from those found for bulk ice. To investigate the behavior of quasi-2D ice, we perform…
We demonstrate an exceptional ability of a high-polarisation 3D ferroelectric liquid to form freely-suspended fluid fibres at room temperature. Unlike fluid threads in modulated smectics and columnar phases, where translational order is a…
In recent years, manipulation of particles by inertial microfluidics has attracted significant attention. Most studies focused on inertial focusing of particles suspended within liquid phase, in which the ratio of the density of the…
Hypothesis A prototypical modelling approach is required for a full characterisation of the static and equilibrium dynamical properties of confined ionic liquids (ILs), in order to gain predictive power of properties that are difficult to…
Controlled synthesis of metastable materials away from equilibrium is of interest in materials chemistry. Thin film deposition methods with rapid condensation of vapor precursors can readily synthesize metastable phases, but often struggle…
The spatial arrangement of components within an mRNA encapsulating nanoparticle has consequences for its thermal stability, which is a key parameter for therapeutic utility. The mesostructure of mRNA nanoparticles formed with cationic…
The spectacular metal-to-insulator transition of V2O3 can be progressively suppressed in thin film samples. Evidence for phase separation was observed using microbridges as a mesoscopic probe of transport properties where the same film…
Transport of ions in molecular-scale confined spaces is central to all aspects of life and technology: into a crack, it may break steel within days; through a membrane separator, it determines the efficiency of electrochemical energy…
The confinement of an ionic liquid between charged solid surfaces is treated using an exactly solvable 1D Coulomb gas model. The theory highlights the importance of two dimensionless parameters: the fugacity of the ionic liquid, and the…
The morphology and transport properties of thin films of the ionomer Nafion, with thicknesses on the order of the bulk cluster size, have been investigated as a model system to explain the anomalous behaviour of catalyst/electrode-polymer…
Understanding ion-transport under molecular confinement is essential for developing next-generation energy technologies, where ionic motion often occurs within nanoscale or angstrom-scale channels. In this study, we use the model system of…
We present a data-efficient, multiscale framework for predicting the density profiles of confined fluids at the nanoscale. While accurate density estimates require prohibitively long timescales that are inaccessible by ab initio molecular…
Melting is typically viewed as a bulk first-order phase transition that proceeds once nucleation barriers are overcome. Here we demonstrate an interfacially arrested melting regime in molecularly thin crystalline films, where large liquid…
Soft pair potentials predict a reentrant liquid phase for high concentrations, a behavior not observed experimentally. Here, very soft microgels confined at an oil-water interface are used as a model system of particles interacting via a…