Related papers: Electrokinetic flows in liquid crystal thin films …
We study a system of nonlinear partial differential equations modeling the electrokinetics of a nematic electrolyte material consisting of various ion species suspended in a nematic liquid crystal within a bounded domain in two or three…
We investigate the connection between the transport properties and the thermodynamics of electronic systems with a tendency to form broken-symmetry mesophases evocative of the physics of liquid crystals. Through a hydrodynamic approach to…
The sliding motion of aqueous droplets on hydrohobic surfaces leads to charge separation at the trailing edge, with implications from triple-line friction to hydrovoltaic energy generation. Charges deposited on the solid surface have been…
We demonstrate the generation of diverse material flow regimes in nematic liquid cells as driven by time-variable active surface anchoring, including no-net flow, oscillatory flow, steady flow, and pulsating flow. Specifically, we…
The nonlinear electrokinetic response of ionic solutions is important in nanofluidics. However, quantitatively understanding the mechanisms is still a challenging problem because of a lack of analytic approaches. Here, a general framework…
Motivated by the variety of applications in which nematic Hele-Shaw flow occurs, a theoretical model for Hele-Shaw flow of a nematic liquid crystal is formulated and analysed. We derive the thin-film Ericksen-Leslie equations that govern…
Consider the (simplified) Leslie-Erickson model for the flow of nematic liquid crystals in a bounded domain $\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^n$ for n > 1$. This article develops a complete dynamic theory for these equations, analyzing the system…
The topological properties of many materials are central to their behavior, with the dynamics of topological defects being particularly important to intrinsically out-of-equilibrium, active materials. In this paper, local manipulation of…
Transport of fluids and particles at the microscale is an important theme both in fundamental and applied science. One of the most successful approaches is to use an electric field, which requires the system to carry or induce electric…
We demonstrate the existence of a fluid-structure instability arising from the interaction of electro-osmotic flow with an elastic substrate. Considering the case of flow within a soft fluidic chamber, we show that above a certain electric…
Study of electrokinetics of nematic liquid crystals (LCs) with dissolved impurities hold utmost importance in understanding director distribution characteristics and modified flow rheology. However, no concrete theory for the non-uniform…
Disclinations lines play a key role in many physical processes, from the fracture of materials to the formation of the early universe. Achieving versatile control over disclinations is key to developing novel electro-optical devices,…
The hydrodynamics of smectic films at an air-water interface is discussed, with particular focus on the viscous response of the film under flow normal to the layers. The corrections to the response functions of the smectic phase, arising…
Colloids dispersed in nematic liquid crystals form topological composites in which colloid-associated defects mediate interactions while adhering to fundamental topological constraints. Better realising the promise of such materials…
The spontaneous emergence of collective flows is a generic property of active fluids and often leads to chaotic flow patterns characterised by swirls, jets, and topological disclinations in their orientation field. However, the ability to…
The movement of subaqueous sediment in laminar shearing flow is numerically investigated by the coupled lattice Boltzmann and discrete element methods. First, the numerical method is validated by comparing the phase diagram proposed by…
Promising applications in photonics are driven by the ability to fabricate crystal-quality metal thin films of controlled thickness down to a few nanometers. In particular, these materials exhibit a highly nonlinear response to optical…
An individual defect in a nematic liquid crystal moves not only in response to its interaction with other defects but also in response to an external field. We analyze the motion of a wedge disclination in the presence of an applied field…
We consider a thin horizontal layer of a non-magnetic electrolyte containing a bulk solution of salt and carrying an electric current. The layer is bounded by two deformable free surfaces loaded with an insoluble surfactant and is placed in…
Free interfaces of liquid crystals tend to minimise both capillarity and anchoring forces. Here we study nematic films in planar and radial geometries with antagonistic anchoring boundary conditions and one deformable interface. Assuming a…