Related papers: Logical and information aspects in surface science…
We report on the onset of fluid entrainment when a contact line is forced to advance over a dry solid of arbitrary wettability. We show that entrainment occurs at a critical advancing speed beyond which the balance between capillary,…
We report on the frictional properties of thin ($\approx \mu m$) poly(dimethylacrylamide) hydrogel films within contacts with spherical silica probes. In order to focus on the contribution to friction of interfacial dissipation, a dedicated…
We use molecular simulations to demonstrate the connection between transverse water-water correlations and wetting phenomena for a range of hydrophobic to hydrophilic solid surfaces.Near superhydrophobic surfaces, the correlations are long…
Superlubricity is a frictionless tribological state sometimes occurring in nanoscale material junctions. It is often associated with incommensurate surface lattice structures appearing at the interface. Here, by using the recently…
The motion of flexible fibers through structured fluidic environments is ubiquitous in nature and industrial applications. Most often, their dynamics results from the complex interplay between internal elastic stresses, contact forces and…
The dry frictional contact between two solid surfaces is well-known to obey Coulomb friction laws. In particular, the static friction force resisting the relative lateral (tangential) motion of solid surfaces, initially at rest, is known to…
A model of protein-ligand binding kinetics in which slow solvent dynamics results from hydrophobic drying transitions is investigated. Molecular dynamics simulations show that solvent in the receptor pocket can fluctuate between wet and dry…
The understanding of friction at nano-scales, ruled by the regular arrangement of atoms, is surprisingly incomplete. Here we provide a unified understanding by studying the interlocking potential energy of two infinite contacting surfaces…
The mechanical response of elastic porous media confined within rigid geometries is central to a wide range of industrial, geological, and biomedical systems. However, current models for these problems typically overlook the role of wall…
A famous and thoroughly investigated instability set-up, susceptible to wrinkling and creasing, consists of an elastic half-space being prestressed under a dead load, applied at infinity and, possibly, on its surface. We consider the case…
The elastic deformation of a soft solid induced by capillary forces crucially relies on the excess stress inside the solid-liquid interface. While for a liquid-liquid interface this "surface stress" is strictly identical to the "surface…
The nonlinear dynamics associated with sliding friction forms a broad interdisciplinary research field that involves complex dynamical processes and patterns covering a broad range of time and length scales. Progress in experimental…
The microscopic origin of friction has been the goal of several theoretical studies in the last decades. Depending on the investigated systems or models, on the simulation techniques or conditions, different and somewhat contradictory…
Friction at water-carbon interfaces remains a major puzzle with theories and simulations unable to explain experimental trends in nanoscale waterflow. A recent theoretical framework -- quantum friction (QF)-- proposes to resolve these…
We review the present state of understanding of solid friction at low velocities and for systems with negligibly small wear effects. We first analyze in detail the behavior of friction at interfaces between wacroscopic hard rough solids,…
By using ab-initio-accurate force fields and molecular dynamics simulations we demonstrate that the layer stiffness has profound effects on the superlubricant state of two-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures. These are engineered to…
Rigidity is an emergent property of materials - it is not a feature of individual components that comprise the structure, but instead arises from interactions between many constituent parts. Recently, it has been recognized that…
The thermodynamics and mechanics of the surface of a deformable body are studied here, following and refining the general approach of Gibbs. It is first shown that the 'local' thermodynamic variables of the state of the surface are only the…
In forced wetting, a rapidly moving surface drags with it a thin layer of trailing fluid as it is plunged into a second fluid bath. Using high-speed interferometry, we find characteristic structure in the thickness of this layer with…
A deterministic theory describing the behavior of an ultrathin lubricant film between two atomically-smooth solid surfaces is proposed. For the description of lubricant state the parameter of excess volume arising due to chaotization of…