Related papers: Nano-Ductility in Silicate Glasses is Driven by To…
The onset of structural arrest and glass formation in a concentrated suspension of silica nanoparticles in a water-lutidine binary mixture near its consolute point is studied by exploiting the near-critical fluid degrees of freedom to…
Hypothesis: Sample-spanning particle networks are used to induce structure and a yield stress, necessary for 3D printing of porous ceramics and paints. In capillary suspensions, a small quantity of immiscible secondary fluid is incorporated…
Glasses are ubiquitous amorphous solids that remain one of the big mysteries in condensed matter. Despite the vast body of literature on glasses, a unifying approach to link the structure and dynamics of glasses is still missing. A growing…
We review a theoretical perspective of the dynamics of glass forming liquids and the glass transition. It is a perspective we have developed with our collaborators during this decade. It is based upon the structure of trajectory space. This…
We have studied spinning superfluid $^4$He nanodroplets at zero temperature using Density Functional theory. Due to the irrotational character of the superfluid flow, the shapes of the spinning nanodroplets are very different from those of…
The term "fragility" describes the rate at which viscosity grows when a supercooled liquid approaches its putative glass transition temperature. The field of glassy materials is actively searching for a structural origin that governs this…
All liquids are topologically disordered materials; however, the degree of disorder can vary as a result of internal fluctuations in structure and topology. These fluctuations depend on both the composition and temperature of the system.…
Non-Arrhenius behaviour and fast increase of the ionic conductivity is observed for a number of potassium silicate glasses $(1-x)SiO_2-xK_2O$ with potassium oxide concentration larger than a certain value $x=x_c=0.14$. Recovering of…
As approaching the glass transition, particle motion in liquids becomes highly heterogeneous and regions with virtually no mobility coexist with liquid-like domains. This complex dynamics is believed to be responsible for different…
Amorphous silica density at ambient pressure is known to depend on thermal history (through the quenching rate) but also, at room temperature, on the maximum pressure applied in the past. Here we show that beyond density, a mechanical…
Using large-scale molecular dynamics simulations for a system of $10^6$ particles, the response of a dense amorphous solid to the continuous expansion of its volume is investigated. We find that the spatially uniform glassy state becomes…
Topological defects are singularities within a field that cannot be removed by continuous transformations. The definition of these irregularities requires an ordered reference configuration, calling into question whether they exist in…
An original setup combining a very stable loading stage, an atomic force microscope and an environmental chamber, allows to obtain very stable sub-critical fracture propagation in oxide glasses under controlled environment, and subsequently…
We numerically study the interplay between heterogeneous dynamics and properties of negatively curved regions of the potential energy surface in a model glassy system. We find that the unstable modes of saddles and quasi-saddles undergo a…
We test a hypothesis for the origin of dynamical heterogeneity in slowly relaxing systems, namely that it emerges from soft (Goldstone) modes associated with a broken continuous symmetry under time reparametrizations. We do this by…
Due to its non-crystalline nature, the glassy state has remained one the most exciting scientific challenges. To study such materials, Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations have been extensively used because they provide a direct view into…
Experimental investigations of hydrophobic/water interfaces often return controversial results, possibly due to the unknown role of gas accumulation at the interfaces. Here, during advanced atomic force microscopy of the initial evolution…
We observed strongly size-dependent viscoelasticity in amorphous SiO2 and Si nanotubes with shell thickness down to ~8 nm. A core-shell model shows that a ~1 nm thick fluid-like surface layer has a significant effect on the mechanical…
Large fluctuations of conductivity with time are observed in a low-mobility two-dimensional electron system in silicon at low electron densities $n_s$ and temperatures. A dramatic increase of the noise power ($\propto 1/f^{\alpha}$) as…
An aqueous suspension of silica nanoparticles or nanofluid can alter the wettability of surfaces, specifically by making them hydrophilic and oil-repellent under water. Wettability alteration by nanofluids have important technological…