Related papers: Polymer-Nanoparticle Complexes : from Dilute Solut…
In this review, we present our recent computational work on carbon-based nanostructured composites. These materials consist of carbon crystallites embedded in an amorphous carbon matrix and are modeled here through classical and…
Micrometre sized colloidal particles can be viewed as large atoms with tailorable size, shape and interactions. These building blocks can assemble into extremely rich structures and phases, in which the thermal motions of particles can be…
Assembling nanostructured building blocks into network materials unlocks macroscopic properties inaccessible with monolithic solids, notably toughness and tolerance to electrochemical alloying. A method is reported for large-scale,…
Co-assembly of inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) and nanostructured polymer matrix represents an intricate interplay of enthalpic or entropic forces. Particle size largely affects the phase behavior of the nanocomposite. Theoretical studies…
Most paints contain pigments that absorb light and fade over time. A robust alternative can be found in nature, where structural coloration arises from the interference of light with submicron features. Plant-derived, cellulose nanocrystals…
The size distribution of asteroids in the solar system suggests that they formed top-down, with 100-1000 km bodies forming from the gravitational collapse of dense clumps of small solid particles. We investigate the conditions under which…
We discuss recent developments and present new findings in the colloidal description of soft polymeric macromolecular aggregates. For various macromolecular architectures, such as linear chains, star polymers, dendrimers and polyelectrolyte…
Recent studies aimed at investigating artificial analogs of bacterial colonies have shown that low-density suspensions of self-propelled particles confined in two dimensions can assemble into finite aggregates that merge and split, but have…
Recent theoretical studies have predicted a new clustering mechanism for soft matter particles that interact via a certain kind of purely repulsive, bounded potentials. At sufficiently high densities, clusters of overlapping particles are…
Magic-sized clusters (MSCs) are renowned for their identical size and closed-shell stability that inhibit conventional nanoparticle (NP) growth processes. Though MSCs have been of increasing interest, understanding the reaction pathways…
Water clusters embedding a nitric acid molecule HNO3(H2O)_{n=1-10} are investigated via electrostatic deflection of a molecular beam. We observe large paraelectric susceptibilities that greatly exceed the electronic polarizability,…
Surface nanobubbles are stable gaseous phases in liquids that form on solid substrates. While their existence has been confirmed, there are many open questions related to their formation and dissolution processes along with their structures…
Nanocrystalline metal alloys show great potential as structural materials, but are often only available in small volumes such as thin films or powders. However, recent research has suggested that dopant segregation and grain boundary…
We theoretically study sedimentation-diffusion equilibrium of dilute binary, ternary, and polydisperse mixtures of colloidal particles with different buoyant masses and/or charges. We focus on the low-salt regime, where the entropy of the…
The paper presents a comprehensive analysis of elastic properties of polystyrene-based nanocomposites filled with different types of inclusions: small spherical particles (SiO2 and Al2O3), alumosilicates (montmorillonite, halloysite natural…
A unique property of metal nanoclusters is the "superatom" shell structure of their delocalized electrons. The electronic shell levels are highly degenerate and therefore represent sharp peaks in the density of states. This can enable…
Micromotor and nanomotor particles are typically made using dense solid particles that can sediment or be trapped in confined flow environments. Creation of much larger motors should be possible if a very low-density system is used with…
We computed by a Monte Carlo method derived from the Solid on Solid model, the evolution of a polycrystalline thin film deposited on a substrate during thermal treatment. Two types of substrates have been studied: a single crystalline…
Hot Isostatic Pressing was applied to synthesize bulk samples with diameter up to 30 mm starting with Alfa Aesar magnesium diboride powder. HIPing at 2 kbar, 1000 C with cooling under pressure (DMCUP cycle) resulted in a fully dense (or low…
One of the challenges of self-assembling finite-sized colloidal aggregates with a sought morphology is the necessity of precisely sorting the position of the colloids at the microscopic scale to avoid the formation of off-target structures.…