Related papers: The interaction between colloids in polar mixtures…
We theoretically and experimentally investigate colloid-oil-water-interface interactions of charged, sterically stabilized, poly(methyl-methacrylate) colloidal particles dispersed in a low-polar oil (dielectric constant $\epsilon=5-10$)…
We investigate the effective interactions between two nanoparticles (or colloids) immersed in a solvent exhibiting two-phase separation. Using a non-local density functional theory, we determine the dependence of the effective potential on…
The electrostatic double layer force is key to determining the stability and self-assembly of charged colloids and many other soft matter systems. Fully understanding the attractive force between two like-charged surfaces remains a great…
In this paper, we theoretically study the electrostatic interaction between a pair of identical colloids with constant surface potentials sitting in close vicinity of each other at a fluid interface. By employing a simplified yet reasonable…
We use a shell model to study the counterion interactions in a colloidal solution. In this shell model, the counterions are restricted to move inside a spherical region about their host colloidal particle. In particular, we apply Monte…
We describe arrangements of ions capable of producing short-range attractive interactions between pairs of charged colloidal spheres in the low temperature strongly correlated limit. For particles of radius $R$ with bare charge $Z$ and…
The efficiency of nanopore-based polymer sensing devices depends on the fast capture of anionic polyelectrolytes by negatively charged pores. This requires the cancellation of the electrostatic barrier associated with repulsive polymer-pore…
We review our recent studies on selective solvation effects in phase separation in polar binary mixtures with a small amount of solutes. Such hydrophilic or hydrophobic particles are preferentially attracted to one of the solvent…
Experiments using the Surface Force Apparatus (SFA) have found anomalously long-ranged interactions between charged surfaces in concentrated salt solutions. Ion clustering have been suggested as a possible origin of this behaviour. In this…
Molecular dynamics simulations of aqueous NaCl, KCl, NaI, and KI solutions are used to study the effects of salts on the properties of the liquid/vapor interface. The simulations use the models which include both charge transfer and…
The existence of attractions between like-charged colloids immersed in ionic solution have been discovered in recent experiments. This phenomenon contradicts the predictions of DLVO theory and indicates a failure of mean field theory. We…
Antagonistic salts are salts which consist of hydrophilic and hydrophobic ions. In a binary mixture of water and organic solvent, these ions preferentially dissolve into different phases. We investigate the effect of an antagonistic salt,…
We study the effective interaction mediated by strongly coupled Coulomb fluids between dielectric surfaces carrying quenched, random monopolar charges with equal mean and variance, both when the Coulomb fluid consists only of mobile…
We propose a platform for observing and controlling the interactions between atomic ions and a quantum gas of polar molecules in the ultracold regime. This approach is based on the combination of several recently developed methods in two…
We investigate the electrostatic interactions of zwitterionic membranes immersed in mixed electrolytes composed of mono- and multivalent ions. We show that the presence of monovalent salt is a necessary condition for the existence of a…
The aggregation of clay particles in aqueous solution is a ubiquitous everyday process of broad environmental and technological importance. However, it is poorly understood at the all-important atomistic level since it depends on a complex…
This review focuses on the striking recent progress in solving for hydrophobic interactions between small inert molecules. We discuss several new understandings. Firstly, the _inverse _temperature phenomenology of hydrophobic interactions,…
We study the melting behavior of charged colloidal crystals, using a simulation technique that combines a continuous mean-field Poisson-Boltzmann description for the microscopic electrolyte ions with a Brownian-dynamics simulation for the…
Responsive poly-N-isopropylacrylamide-based microgels are commonly used as model colloids with soft repulsive interactions. It has been shown that the microgel-microgel interaction in solution can be easily adjusted by varying the…
We investigate bridging and aggregation of two colloidal particles in a near-critical binary mixture when the fluid far from the particles is outside the coexistence (CX) curve and is rich in the component disfavored by the colloid…