Dewetting during Terahertz Vibrations of Nanoparticles

We use molecular simulations to demonstrate the formation of a vacuum layer around a vibrating nanoparticle in a liquid. This vacuum layer forms readily for high frequencies with respect to the characteristic vibrational (Einstein) frequency of the fluid, even with small amplitude vibrations. The opposite is true for low frequencies, where large amplitudes are required to demonstrate the vacuum layer. With the vacuum layer forming, the quality factor of the oscillations increases substantially. The findings provide an interpretation of our recent experiments that show the onset of high-quality resonances of nanoparticles in water (Xiang et al. Nano Lett. 2016, 16, 3638) in the gigahertz to terahertz range.