Related papers: Detection of nanobubbles between two liquid layers…
Liquid crystals have emerged as potential candidates for next-generation lubricants due to their tendency to exhibit long-range ordering. Here, we construct a full atomistic model of 4-cyano-4-hexylbiphenyl (6CB) nematic liquid crystal…
It is proposed that lubricant molecules adsorbed on an interface between two asperities in contact, which is rough on the atomic scale, can switch the interface from the strong to weak pinning regime, resulting in a large reduction in the…
Soft nanoparticles hold promise as smart emulsifiers due to their high degree of deformability, permeability and stimuli responsive properties. By means of large-scale simulations we investigate the structural properties of nanogels at…
Accessing, controlling and understanding nanoscale friction and dissipation is a crucial issue in nanotechnology, where moving elements are central. Recently, ultra-sensitive noncontact pendulum Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) succeeded in…
Laser trapping near the surface of a nanostructured substrate is demonstrated. Stable microbubbles with radii of 1-20micrometers have been created and manipulated with sub-micron precision by a focused laser beam in an immersion oil…
There are currently three main classes of high-performance liquid-repellent surfaces: micro-/nano-structured lotus-effect superhydrophobic surfaces, flat surfaces grafted with 'liquid-like' polymer brushes, and various lubricated surfaces.…
Friction in ordered atomistic layers plays a central role in various nanoscale systems ranging from nanomachines to biological systems. It governs transport properties, wear and dissipation. Defects and incommensurate lattice constants…
Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) is a suitable tool to perform tribological characterization of materials down to the nanometer scale. An important aspect in nanofriction measurements of corrugated samples is the local tilt of the surface,…
The capillary forces exerted by liquid drops and bubbles on a soft solid are directly measured using molecular dynamics simulations. The force on the solid by the liquid near the contact line is not oriented along the liquid vapor interface…
We report the observation of a transition in the dynamical properties of water nano-menicus which dramatically change when probed at different time scales. Using a AFM mode that we name Force Feedback Microscopy, we observe this change in…
We investigate nanoflows through dilute disordered media by means of joint lattice Boltzmann (LB) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations -- when the size of the obstacles is comparable to the size of the flowing particles -- for randomly…
We study surface nanobubbles using molecular dynamics simulation of ternary (gas, liquid, solid) systems of Lennard-Jones fluids. They form for sufficiently low gas solubility in the liquid, i.e., for large relative gas concentration. For…
Optically-levitated dielectric particles can serve as ultra-sensitive detectors of feeble forces and torques, as tools for use in quantum information science, and as a testbed for quantum coherence in macroscopic systems. Knowledge of the…
The impact of a sessile droplet with a moving meniscus, as encountered in processes such as dip-coating, generically leads to the entrapment of small air bubbles. Here we experimentally study this process of bubble formation by looking…
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…
A MEMS based tribometer has been developed that can be read out with nanometer and nano-Newton resolution, approaching the resolution and sensitivity of a friction force microscope (FFM). It can be used to study friction of MEMS device…
Explicit molecular dynamics simulations were applied to a pair of amorphous silica nanoparticles in aqueous solution, of diameter 4.4 nm with four different background electrolyte concentrations, to extract the mean force acting between the…
Surface nanobubbles (NBs) are stable gaseous phases in liquids that form at the interface with solid substrates. They have been particularly intriguing for their high stability that contradicts theoretical expectations and their potential…
Using a coarse-grained bead-spring model of flexible polymer chains, the structure of a polymeric nanodroplet adsorbed on a chemically decorated flat wall is investigated by means of Molecular Dynamics simulation. We consider sessile drops…
Liquids in contact with solids are submitted to intermolecular forces making liquids heterogeneous and, in a mechanical model, the stress tensor is not any more spherical as in homogeneous bulks. The aim of this article is to show that a…