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We study the response of materials with nanoscale pores containing sodium chloride solutions, to cycles of relative humidity (RH). Compared to pure fluids, we show that these sorption isotherms display much wider hysteresis, with a shape…
Like many others, silicate solids dissolve when placed in contact with water. In a given aqueous environment, the dissolution rate depends highly on the composition and the structure of the solid, and can span several orders of magnitude.…
Manipulating the way in which colloidal particles self-organise is a central challenge in the design of functional soft materials. Meeting this challenge requires the use of building blocks that interact with one another in a highly…
Magnetic fluids exhibit tunable structures and electrophysical properties, making them promising for adaptive optical systems, biomedical sensors, and microelectromechanical devices. However, the dynamic evolution of their microstructure…
Bulk metallic samples were synthesized from different binary powder mixtures consisting of elemental Cu, Co, and Fe using severe plastic deformation. Small particles of the ferromagnetic phase originate in the conductive Cu phase, either by…
Thin hexagonal barium hexaferrite particles synthesized using the microemulsion technique were studied. A water-in-oil reverse microemulsion system with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a cationic surfactant, n-butanol as a…
The self-assembly of two nonionic surfactants, pentaethylene glycol monododecyl ether (C12E5) and n-dodecyl-{\ss}-maltoside ({\ss}-C12G2), in the presence of a purpose-synthesized silica sol of uniform particle size (diameter 16 nm) has…
We present an analytical framework that predicts and controls nanoparticle size through external magnetic fields, uniting first-principles thermodynamics with a sphere packing approach. Calibrated to diamagnetic silver nanoparticles (20 nm…
We report size-dependent melting of spherical copper nanoparticles embedded into silica matrix. Based on the temperature dependence of the surface plasmon resonance energy and its width we observe two distinct melting regimes. For particles…
Pattern formation induced by wrinkling is a very common phenomenon exhibited in soft-matter substrates. In all these systems wrinkles develop in presence of compressively stressed thin films lying on compliant substrates. Here we…
Glass is increasingly desired as a material for manufacturing complex microscopic geometries, from the micro-optics in compact consumer products to microfluidic systems for chemical synthesis and biological analyses. As the size, geometric,…
Phase transitions in polar binary mixtures can be drastically altered even by a small amount of salt. This is because the preferential solvation strongly depends on the ambient composition. Together with a summary of our research in this…
The structure of silica-latex nanocomposites of three matrix chain masses (20, 50, and 160 kg/mol of poly(ethyl methacrylate)) are studied using a SAXS/TEM approach, coupled via Monte Carlo simulations of scattering of fully polydisperse…
Solid electrolytes (SEs) for sodium-based superionic conductors (NaSICON) are widely recognized for their excellent ionic conductivity and application in sodium based energy storage systems. While considerable effort has been made to…
Preparation of particle-loaded foams, followed by drying, sintering and/or cross-linking are widely explored routes for developing lightweight ceramics with high mechanical strength. The non-sintered dry ceramic foams are less studied due…
Natural ceramic composites present complex microstructures that lead to tortuous crack paths and confer them high toughness. Current microreinforced composites do not yet reach the same level of complexity in their microstructures,…
We introduce a new type of binary magnonic crystal, where Ni$_{80}$Fe$_{20}$ nanodots of two different sizes are diagonally connected forming a unit and those units are arranged in a square lattice. The magnetization dynamics of the sample…
Boron-doped molybdenum silicides have been already recognized as attractive candidates for space and ground ultra-high temperature applications far beyond limits of state-of-the-art nickel based superalloys. In this work, we are exploring a…
Mesoporous silica particles have been synthesized by sol-gel method from tetraethoxysilane (tetraethylorthosilicate, TEOS) and methyltriethoxysilane (MTES), in ethanol and water mixture, at different ratios of the of the silica precursors.…
Simplified silica (Zeosil 1165 MP) and SBR (140k carrying silanol end-groups) nanocomposites have been formulated by mixing of a reduced number of ingredients with respect to industrial applications. The thermo-mechanical history of the…