Related papers: Modification of adhesion between microparticles an…
Softer means stickier for solid adhesives, because material compliance facilitates close contact between non-conformal surfaces. Recent discoveries have revealed that soft materials can exhibit a rich array of new physics arising from…
A type of super-hydrophobic surface consists of a solid plane boundary with an array of grooves which, due to the effect of surface tension, prevent a complete wetting of the wall. The effect is greatest when the grooves are aligned with…
Multivalent particles bind to targets via many independent ligand-receptor bonding interactions. This microscopic design spans length scales in both synthetic and biological systems. Classic examples include interactions between cells,…
When an experimentalist or a biological mechanism applies an external force onto a cell chemically sticking to its substrate, a reacting 'suction' force, due to the slow penetration of the surrounding fluid between the cell and the…
The ability to control wettability is important for a wide range of technological applications in which precise microfluidic handling is required. It is known that predesigned roughness at a micro- or nano- scale enhances the wetting…
The shape of a liquid-air interface advancing on a heterogeneous surface was studied experimentally, together with the force induced by the pinning of the contact line to surface defects. Different surfaces were considered with circular…
Diamond-based coatings are employed in several technological applications, for their outstanding mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and chemical stability. Of significant relevance is the interface with silicon oxide, where phenomena…
Driven by the reduction of dangling bonds and the minimization of surface stress, reconstruction of silicon surfaces leads to a striking diversity of outcomes. Despite this variety even very elaborate structures are generally comprised of a…
A seemingly anomalous enhancement of electron mobility in strained silicon inversion layers at high sheet densities has exposed a conspicuous gap between device physics theory and experiment in recent years. We show that the root of this…
Although stiction is a cumbersome problem for microsystems, it stimulates investigations of surface adhesion. In fact, the shape of an adhered cantilever carries information of the adhesion energy that locks one end to the substrate. We…
Modeling arbitrarily large deformations of surfaces smoothly embedded in three-dimensional space is challenging. The difficulties come from two aspects: the existing geometry processing or forward simulation methods penalize the difference…
Soft and biological matter come in a variety of shapes and geometries. When soft surfaces that do not fit into each other due to a mismatch in Gaussian curvatures form an interface, beautiful geometry-induced patterns emerge. In this paper,…
We study the lubrication of fluid-immersed soft interfaces and show that elastic deformation couples tangential and normal forces and thus generates lift. We consider materials that deform easily, due to either geometry (e.g. a shell) or…
A series of density functional theory (DFT) simulations was performed to investigate the approach, contact, and subsequent separation of two atomically flat surfaces consisting of different materials. Aluminum (Al) and titanium nitride…
A combination of micro-Raman spectroscopy and micro-XPS (X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy) mapping on statically deflected p-type silicon cantilevers is used to study the mechanical stress dependence of the Fermi level pinning at an…
We simulate the collision of atomic clusters with a weakly attractive surface using molecular dynamics in a regime between soft-landing and fragmentation, where the cluster undergoes large deformation but remains intact. As a function of…
The mechanical response of a wet granular layer to imposed shear is studied experimentally at low applied normal stress. The granular material is immersed in water and the shear is applied by sliding a plate resting on the upper surface of…
Si deposition on H terminated Si(100)-2x1 and 3x1 surfaces at temperatures 300-530 K is studied by scanning tunneling microscopy. Hydrogen apparently hinders Si adatom diffusion and enhances surface roughening. The post-growth annealing…
Acquiring a comprehensive understanding of the interplay between foam friction and surface roughness is essential for achieving precise control over their flow dynamics. In particular, a major challenge is to reduce friction, which can be…
Nanoporosity in silicon results in an interface-dominated mechanics, fluidics and photonics that are often superior to the ones of the bulk material. However, their active control, e.g. as a response to electronic stimuli, is challenging…