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We study experimentally and theoretically the equilibrium adhesive contact between a smooth glass lens and a rough rubber surface textured with spherical microasperities with controlled height and spatial distributions. Measurements of the…
Here we show a folding-stretching instability in a microfluidic flow focusing device using silicon oil (100cSt) and water. The fluid dynamics video demonstrates an oscillating thread of oil focused by two co-flowing streams of water. We…
The equilibrium properties of polymer droplets on a soft deformable surface are investigated by molecular dynamics simulations of a bead-spring model. The surface consists of a polymer brush with irreversibly end-tethered linear homopolymer…
The attractive interactions between oppositely charged species (colloids, macromolecules etc) dispersed in water are strong, and the direct mixing of solutions containing such species generally yields to a precipitation, or to a phase…
Nanoscale topographic features of solid surfaces can induce complex metastable behavior in colloidal and multiphase systems. Recent studies on single microparticle adsorption at liquid interfaces have reported a crossover from fast…
Droplets coalescing on a superhydrophobic surface exhibit coalescence-induced droplet jumping. However, water vapor condensing on a superhydrophobic surface can result in simultaneous formation of condensate droplets with two distinct…
Designable media can control properties of nanocomposite materials by spatially organizing nanoparticles. Here we theoretically study particle organization by ultrathin polymer films of grafted chains (``brushes''). Polymer-soluble…
A particle-water discrete element based approach to describe water movement in partially saturated granular media is presented and tested. Water potential is governed by both capillary bridges, dominant at low saturations, and the pressure…
Studies of nanoparticle-based optical matter have only considered spherical constituents. Yet nanoparticles with other shapes are expected to have different local electromagnetic field distributions and therefore interactions with neighbors…
Phosphorene, a newly fabricated two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterial, have exhibited promising application prospect in biology. Nonetheless, the wetting and diffusive properties of bio-fluids on phosphorene are still elusive. In this study,…
The increased availability and brilliance of new X-ray facilities have in the recent years opened up the possibility to characterize the motion of dispersed nanoparticles in various microfluidic applications. One of these applications is…
Single-wall carbon nanotube (SWNT) nanofibrils were assembled onto conductive atomic force microscopy (AFM) probes with the help of dielectrophoresis (DEP). This process involved the application of a 10 V, 2 MHz, AC bias between a…
The wetting of solid surfaces can be manoeuvred by altering the energy balance at the interfacial region. While electric field acts favourably to spread a droplet on a rigid surface, this tendency may be significantly suppressed over soft…
Nanoparticles with hydrophobic capping ligands and amphiphilic phospholipids are both found to self-assemble into monolayer films when deposited on the air water interface. By separately measuring the anisotropic stress response of these…
Fabrication of highly ordered and dense nanofibers assemblies is of key importance in designing high-performance and multi-functional materials. In this work, we design an experimental approach in silico, combining shear flow and solvent…
Various properties of water are affected by confinement as the space-filling of the water molecules is very different from bulk water. In our study, we challenged the creation of a stable system in which water molecules are permanently…
Silicon nanostructuring imparts unique material properties including antireflectivity, antifogging, anti-icing, self-cleaning, and/or antimicrobial activity. To tune these properties however, a good control over features size and shape is…
We study the dynamics of small droplets of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) silicone oil on a vertical, perfectly-wetting, silicon wafer. Interference videomicroscopy allows us to capture the dynamics of these droplets. We use droplets with a…
Nanopores are both a tool to study single-molecule biophysics and nanoscale ion transport, but also a promising material for desalination or osmotic power generation. Understanding the physics underlying ion transport through nano-sized…
Hydrogels are promising systems for separation applications due to their structural characteristics (i.e. hydrophilicity and porosity). In our study, we investigate the permeation of suspensions of rigid latex particles of different sizes…