Related papers: Desalination due to Electrical Image Forces

Electrostatics in the solution phase is governed by free electrical charges such as ions, as well as by bound charges that arise when a polarizable medium responds to an applied field. In a local medium, described by a constant dielectric…

Can we avoid molecular dynamics simulations to estimate the electrostatic interaction between charged objects separated by a nanometric distance in water? To answer this question, we develop a continuous model for the dielectric properties…

In sharp contrast to the prevailing view that electric fields promote water freezing, here we show by molecular dynamics simulations that monolayer ice confined between two parallel plates can melt into liquid water under perpendicularly…

We report the discovery of photomolecular effect: cleavage of water clusters off surfaces by photons. This effect is demonstrated through surprising absorption of partially wetted hydrogel in the visible spectrum where both water and…

Over the past few decades the experimental literature has consistently reported observations of attraction between like-charged colloidal particles and macromolecules in solution. Examples include nucleic acids and colloidal particles in…

We present results of molecular dynamics simulations of strong, flexible polyelectrolyte chains in solution with added salt. The effect of added salt on the polyelectrolyte chain structure is fully treated for the first time as a function…

A dielectric model of electrostatic solvation is applied to describe potentials of mean force in water along reaction paths for: a) formation of a sodium chloride ion pair; b) the symmetric SN2 exchange of chloride in methylchloride; and c)…

Understanding dielectric spectra can reveal important information about the dynamics of solvents and solutes from the dipolar relaxation times down to electronic ones. In the late 1970s, Hubbard and Onsager predicted that adding salt ions…

We report on electrically-induced rotations in water films, which can function at many length scales. The device consists of a two-dimensional cell used for electrolysis of water films, as simple as an insulator frame with two electrodes on…

We study the electric double layer near a charged soft surface by using a mean-field approach including non-uniform size effect and solvent polarization. Based on a free energy model, electrostatic potential and number densities of water…

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…

Interactions between silica surfaces across isopropanol solutions are measured with colloidal probe technique based on atomic force microscope. In particular, the influence of 1:1 electrolytes on the interactions between silica particles is…

Surfaces of planetary bodies can have strong electric fields, subjecting conductive grains to repulsive electrostatic forces. This has been proposed as mechanism to eject grains from the ground. To quantify this process, we study mm-sized…

The evaporation of drops of water placed at the center of long poly(methyl methacrylate) microfluidic channels with a rectangular cross section of 0.38 mm2 is studied by simultaneously monitoring the shapes of two samples, one is in a 300…

We have directly observed reversal of the polarity of charged surfaces in water upon the addition of tri- and quadrivalent ions using atomic force microscopy. The bulk concentration of multivalent ions at which charge inversion reversibly…

We develop a thermodynamic description of particles held at a fixed surface potential. This system is of particular interest in view of the continuing controversy over the possibility of a fluid-fluid phase separation in aqueous colloidal…

We predict the nature (attractive or repulsive) and range (exponentially screened or long-range power law) of the electrostatic interactions of oppositely charged and planar plates as a function of the salt concentration and surface charge…

We investigate the mobility of nanometer-size solutes in water in a uniform external electric field. General arguments are presented to show that a closed surface cutting a volume from a polar liquid will carry an effective non-zero surface…

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…

The development of energy and infrastructure efficient water purification systems are among the most critical engineering challenges facing our society. Water purification is often a multi-step process involving filtration, desalination,…