Related papers: A microfluidic device for investigating crystal nu…

Droplets are natural candidates for use as microfluidic reactors, if active control of their formation and transport can be achieved. We show here that localized heating from a laser can block the motion of a water-oil interface, acting as…

Reduced dimensionality leads to emergent phenomena in quantum materials and there is a need for accelerated materials discovery of nanoscale quantum materials in reduced dimensions. Thermomechanical nanomolding is a rapid synthesis method…

We introduce a new experimental approach to study the structural transitions of large numbers of nanoparticle-coated droplets as their volume is reduced. We use an emulsion system where the dispersed phase is slightly soluble in the…

We present a versatile setup for investigating the nanofluidic behavior of nanoparticles as a function of the gap distance between two confining surfaces. The setup is designed as an open system which operates with small amounts of…

Understanding the pathways to crystallization during the deposition of a vapor phase on a cold solid substrate is of great interest in industry, e.g., for the realization of electronic devices made of crystallites-free glassy materials, as…

Microgels are often discussed as well-suited model system for soft colloids. In contrast to rigid spheres, the microgel volume and, coupled to this, the volume fraction in dispersion can be manipulated by external stimuli. This behavior is…

As a model for a suspension of hard-sphere like colloidal particles where small nonadsorbing dissolved polymers create a depletion attraction, we introduce an effective colloid-colloid potential closely related to the Asakura-Oosawa model…

Bubble nucleation in liquid confined in nanochannel is studied using molecular dynamics simulations and compared against nucleation in the liquid over smooth (i.e. without confinement). Nucleation is achieved by heating part of a surface to…

The process of homogeneous crystal nucleation has been considered in a model liquid, where the interparticle interaction is described by a short-range spherical oscillatory potential. Mechanisms of initiating structural ordering in the…

Thermocavitation, the creation of a vapor bubble by heating a liquid with a continuous-wave laser, has been studied for a wide range of applications. Examples include the development of an actuator for needle-free jet injectors, as the…

Tracking the evolution of an individual nanodroplet of liquid in real-time remains an outstanding challenge. Here a miniature optomechanical resonator detects a single nanodroplet landing on a surface and measures its subsequent evaporation…

We present modeling approaches to explain mechanisms of control of uniformity (narrow distribution) of sizes and shapes in synthesis of nanosize crystals and micron-size colloids. We consider those situations when the nanocrystals are…

The so-called "Kelvin water dropper" is a simple experiment demonstrating the spontaneous appearance of induced free charge in droplets emitted through a tube. As Lord Kelvin explained, water droplets spontaneously acquire a net charge…

Microdischarges formed in bubbles immersed in liquids are of interest for materials synthesis and chemical conversion applications in the frame of plasma-driven electrochemistry. A key challenge associated with controlling such processes is…

We present recent work on using astronomical observations of neutron stars to reveal unique insights into nuclear matter that cannot be obtained from laboratories on Earth. First, we discuss our measurement of the rapid cooling of the…

In this study, we designed a spiral-shaped milli-reactor with a T-junction microchannel to generate digital droplets for studying and observing the digital freezing process of droplets. During the study of the recalescence and…

Recently-reported data suggest that bubble nucleation on surfaces with nano-sized features (cavities and posts) may occur close to the thermodynamic saturation temperature. However, according to the traditional theory of heterogeneous…

Ensemble averaging experiments may conceal many fundamental molecular interactions. To overcome that, a high-throughput detection of single molecules or colloidal nanodots is crucial for biomedical, nanoelectronic, and solid-state…

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments on subnanoliter (sub-nL) volumes are hindered by the limited sensitivity of the detector and the difficulties in positioning and holding such small samples in proximity of the detector. Here, we…

Micro and nanodroplets have many important applications such as in drug delivery, liquid-liquid extraction, nanomaterial synthesis and cosmetics. A commonly used method to generate a large number of micro or nanodroplets in one simple step…