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Contact mechanics-based models for the friction of nominally flat rough surfaces have not been able to adequately capture certain key experimentally observed phenomenona, such as the transition from a static friction peak to a lower level…

Recent theoretical studies show that nanoscale contact on dielectric substrates can induce flexoelectric polarization large enough to drive electron transfer. This has been supported by experimental evidence, indicating that contact…

Nanowires have been considered for a number of applications in nanometrology. In such a context, we have explored the possibility of using ultrathin twisted nanowires as torsion nanobalances to probe forces and torques at molecular level…

We study charged nanoparticles adsorbed onto surfactant bilayers using small-angle scattering of synchrotron radiation. The in-plane interaction of the particles is well described by a DLVO component (measured independently in solution) and…

Silicon oxide (SiOx) has been widely used in many electronic systems as a supportive and insulating medium. Here we demonstrate various electrical phenomena such as negative differential resistance, resistive switching and current…

Interfaces dominate heat conduction in nanostructured systems, and much work has focused on methods to enhance interfacial conduction. These approaches generally address planar interfaces, where the heat flux vector is everywhere normal to…

The design of the interfacial bondings at metal-oxide interfaces yields exciting new phenomena and can be a route to sustain, and even promote, ferroelectricity at the nanoscale. We study the impact of these interfaces on the nature of the…

We introduce an adhesion parameter that enables rapid screening for materials interfaces with high adhesion. This parameter is obtained by density functional theory calculations of individual single-material slabs rather than slabs…

Silicon nanowires have attracted considerable interest due to their wide-ranging applications in nanoelectromechanical systems and nanoelectronics. Molecular dynamics simulations are powerful tools for studying the mechanical properties of…

The paper reports on the comparison of the wetting properties of super-hydrophobic silicon nanowires (NWs), using drop impact impalement and electrowetting (EW) experiments. A correlation between the resistance to impalement on both EW and…

The absence of piezoelectricity in silicon makes direct electro-mechanical applications of this mainstream semiconductor impossible. Integrated electrical control of the silicon mechanics, however, would open up new perspectives for on-chip…

Engineering wear models are generally empirical and lack connections to the physical processes of debris generation at the nanoscale to microscale. Here, we thus analyze wear particle formation for sliding interfaces in dry contact with…

Controlling the motion of non-Newtonian drops on surfaces is crucial for applications ranging from inkjet printing to biomedical devices and food processing. While the macroscopic behavior of viscoelastic drops sliding on tilted hydrophobic…

Responsive poly-N-isopropylacrylamide-based microgels are commonly used as model colloids with soft repulsive interactions. It has been shown that the microgel-microgel interaction in solution can be easily adjusted by varying the…

We study the potential and the charge distribution across the interface of a plasma and a dielectric wall. For this purpose, the charge bound to the wall is modelled as a quasi-stationary electron surface layer which satisfies Poisson's…

We perform numerical simulations to study self-assembly of nanoparticles mediated by an elastic planar surface. We show how the nontrivial elastic response to deformations of these surfaces leads to anisotropic interactions between the…

Polymer-based nanocomposite dielectrics are expected to become essential in future generations of high voltage electrical insulation. However, the physics behind their performance is not yet understood. Here we investigate electronic…

Wrinkling patterns at the metallized surface of thin polymer films are shown to be sensitive to the sticky or slippery character of the polymer/substrate interface (titanium coating, polystyrene film and coated silicon substrate). Selective…

Measurements of the surface diffusivity of colloidal spheres translating along a vapor/liquid inter- face show an unexpected decrease in diffusivity, or increase in surface drag (from the Stokes-Einstein relation) when the particles situate…

We study experimentally and theoretically the equilibrium adhesive contact between a smooth glass lens and a rough rubber surface textured with spherical microasperities with controlled height and spatial distributions. Measurements of the…