Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Marjolein N. van der Linden, Jeffrey C. Everts, Rene van Roij, Alfons van Blaaderen
Summary: This study demonstrates experimentally that the Brazil-nut effect can be achieved in a system of charged colloids driven by Brownian motion and electrostatics without external forces. Theoretical analysis shows that the mass-per-charge ratio of the heavier particles must be smaller than that of the lighter particles, and at high overall density, the system can be trapped in a long-lived metastable state, preventing the occurrence of the equilibrium Brazil-nut effect. This work provides valuable insights into the physics of strongly interacting systems and has implications for understanding sedimentation experiments with charged colloids.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Ioulia Chikina, Sawako Nakamae, Valeriy Shikin, Andrey Varlamov
Summary: The Seebeck effect in stabilized electrolytes containing colloidal particles exhibits a unique two-stage character, with a linear increase followed by a dramatic drop in differential thermopower. This behavior is attributed to the thermo-diffusion flows of mobile ions and the involvement of colloidal particles in forming the electric field. The steady state thermoelectric effect is characterized by slow thermal diffusion of colloidal particles and loss of their electro-neutrality near electrodes.
Article
Thermodynamics
Wei-Hao Huang, Chih-Chang Chang, Ruey-Jen Yang
Summary: This study conducted numerical simulations to investigate the thermoelectric response in nanofluidic channels with slip mechanism. The results showed that temperature-dependent ion electrophoretic mobility and thermoosmosis dominate the thermoelectric performance. This study provides valuable insights for developing efficient nanofluidic-based thermoelectric generators.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Roni Kroll, Yoav Tsori
Summary: We propose a model that describes ion-induced nucleation in fluids, which can be induced by various charged particles such as molecular aggregates, large ions, colloids, or aerosol particles. This model extends the Thomson model to polar environments and solves the Poisson-Boltzmann equation to determine the potential profiles and energy around the charged core. Our results are analytical under the Debye-Huckel limit and numerical otherwise. By analyzing the Gibbs free energy curve, we identify the metastable and stable states, as well as the energy barrier between them, under different saturation values, core charges, and salt concentrations. Additionally, we calculate the phase lines in the phase diagram of supersaturation and core charge, revealing different regions of electro-prewetting, spontaneous nucleation, ion-induced nucleation, and classical-like nucleation.
JOURNAL OF COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Inorganic & Nuclear
Yu Liu, Zhixiang Hu, Michael O. Ogunbunmi, Eli Stavitski, Klaus Attenkofer, Svilen Bobev, Cedomir Petrovic
Summary: We report a giant anisotropy in the thermoelectric power factor (S-2 sigma) of a marcasite structure-type PtSb1.4Sn0.6 single crystal. PtSb1.4Sn0.6 is a new phase synthesized by mixing Sb and Sn on the same atomic site, which is different from PtSb2 and PtSn2 that crystallize in cubic pyrite and fluorite unit cell symmetries, respectively. The significant difference in S-2 sigma for heat flow along different principal directions of the orthorhombic unit cell is mainly attributed to anisotropic Seebeck coefficients.
INORGANIC CHEMISTRY
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Xiao Zhang, Jiamin Ding, Dongyang Wang, Xiaojuan Dai, Yingqiao Ma, Yue Zhao, Bo Guan, Liyao Liu, Ye Zou, Fengjiao Zhang, Chong-an Di
Summary: This study demonstrates the fabrication of water-dispersive organic thermoelectric (OTE) paints using an environmentally friendly waterborne colloid. The doped films show excellent electrical conductivity, high Seebeck coefficient, and low thermal conductivity, resulting in promising power factor and figure of merit values. The application of these paints on a paper substrate for a thermoelectric generator (TEG) shows their potential in realistic scenarios.
Article
Physics, Fluids & Plasmas
T. C. Rebocho, M. Tasinkevych, C. S. Dias
Summary: Active colloids are nonequilibrium systems where individual particles have self-propelled motion and exhibit surprising collective behavior. In this work, the structure and dynamics of aggregates of self-propelled particles near confining solid surfaces are studied. It is found that the particle aspect ratio has a nonmonotonic effect on the cluster structure and formation time, with ellipsoidal particles forming more stable clusters compared to rodlike particles.
Article
Mechanics
Raul Fernandez-Mateo, Pablo Garcia-Sanchez, Victor Calero, Hywel Morgan, Antonio Ramos
Summary: Quadrupolar electro-osmotic flows are experimentally demonstrated around charged dielectric microspheres in an electrolyte under an alternating current electric field. An electrokinetic model is presented to predict flow characteristics based on surface conductance and polarization of electrolyte concentration. These flows, known as concentration polarization electro-osmosis, are anticipated to play a major role in the assembly of colloids and manipulation of dielectric micro- and nanoparticles through electric fields.
JOURNAL OF FLUID MECHANICS
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Leia Fan, Jason Lin, Annie Yu, Kevin Chang, Jessica Tseng, Judy Su, Amy Chang, Shirley Lu, Eric Lee
Summary: The diffusion behavior of weakly charged liquid metal droplets (LMDs) was investigated, with potential applications in drug delivery. It was found that LMDs always move up along the chemical gradient, unlike dielectric droplets which tend to move down most of the time. This suggests that gallium LMDs, as therapeutic nanomedicine, have inherent advantages in self-guiding to the desired destination. The direction of droplet movement can still be manipulated through polarity dependence, and an induced diffusion potential in the electrolyte solution results in an additional electrophoretic component. Additionally, smaller LMDs move faster in general, indicating a preference for smaller LMD nanomedicine.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Emidio Gabrielli, Barbara Mele, Roberto Onofrio
Summary: Exploring flavor violations in the charged-lepton sector through high-luminosity lepton-photon and electron-muon collisions by inverting initial and final states in various decay channels. Analyzing resonant lepton and neutral-meson scattering channels critically dependent on beam energy spread, with upper bounds computed for these processes. Extending analysis to processes with accompanying photons to compensate off-shellness effects, which may be studied at future facilities with sufficiently high luminosity.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Jianing Liu, Tong Shen, Shu Zhang
Summary: The study highlights the possibility of liquid-liquid phase transition in a one-component suspension by specifying physical parameters that can trigger LLPT and identifying the role of size in attraction besides surface charge. It accurately tracks the evolution from LLPT to nucleation for the first time, revealing the significance of PNCs and their impact on the pathway to nucleation.
JOURNAL OF COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Mohit Singh, Yoav Tsori
Summary: In this study, the orientation transitions of uncharged peanut-shaped polystyrene colloids under different electric field conditions were investigated experimentally and theoretically. The results show that the colloids exhibit different orientation states depending on the applied potential and electric field frequency.
COLLOIDS AND SURFACES A-PHYSICOCHEMICAL AND ENGINEERING ASPECTS
(2022)
Article
Physics, Particles & Fields
Mathew Thomas Arun, Anirudhan A. Madathil
Summary: In this article, we aim to show the resurrection of the theoretically well motivated Tri-bimaximal mixing scenario within the Minimal Flavour Violation hypothesis in the lepton sector. We analyze the flavor violating currents in this scenario and show that the new physics that generates mixing among the charged lepton could be within the reach of hadron colliders.
EUROPEAN PHYSICAL JOURNAL C
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
L. X. Fu, C. M. Wang
Summary: The thermoelectric transport properties of a three-dimensional multi-Weyl semimetal in the quantum limit are studied. The results show that the magnetoresistivity is always negative when the magnetic field is parallel to the electric field or temperature gradient, but the thermopower strongly depends on the scattering potentials and monopole charge. In the perpendicular field configuration, the situation becomes more complicated and is influenced by the potential type.
Article
Chemistry, Organic
Thondikkal Sulfikarali, Govind Behera, Jayaprakash Ajay, Shigeki Mori, Akhil Chakravarthy Kakarlamudi, Sivaranjana Reddy Vennapusa, Sabapathi Gokulnath
Summary: 1,4-Phenylene-linked cyclotrimer and cyclotetramer were synthesized via Lewis acid-catalyzed self-condensation, disrupting annulenic conjugation and preventing global antiaromaticity. The single crystal X-ray structure of cyclotetramer shows a near-planar and square-shaped geometry with all nitrogens pointing toward the macrocyclic core, in contrast to the ring-strained conformation of cyclotrimer.
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Alois Wuerger
Summary: The huge Seebeck coefficients observed recently for ionic conductors are shown to arise from a ratchet effect where activated jumps between neighbor sites are rectified by a temperature gradient, thus driving mobile ions toward the cold. For complex systems with mobile molecules like water or polyethylene glycol, there is an even more efficient diffusiophoretic transport mechanism, proportional to the thermally induced concentration gradient of the molecular component. Without free parameters, the model describes experiments on the ionic liquid EMIM-TFSI and hydrated NaPSS, and qualitatively accounts for polymer electrolyte membranes with Seebeck coefficients of hundreds of k(B)/e.
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Mechanics
Matthias Nebouy, Laurent Chazeau, Julien Morthomas, Claudio Fusco, Philippe Dieudonne-George, Guilhem P. Baeza
Summary: Large amplitude oscillatory shear accelerates polymer crystallization, with frequency and strain amplitude effects being secondary. Analysis of rheological behavior and use of a model can quantitatively predict gelation time of the system.
JOURNAL OF RHEOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Mechanics
Harinadha Gidituri, Alois Wurger, Kevin Stratford, Juho S. Lintuvuori
Summary: In this study, dynamics of a spherical colloidal particle pulled along the fluid-fluid interface were investigated using lattice Boltzmann simulations. Results showed that hydrodynamic drag decreases and particle rotation increases when the particle is more in the low viscosity fluid.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Falko Schmidt, Hana Sipova-Jungova, Mikael Kaell, Alois Wuerger, Giovanni Volpe
Summary: Active nanoparticles in a critical solution show behavior far from equilibrium, with fast orbital rotations observed around the beam axis even with an increase in effective temperature.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Matteo Massetti, Fei Jiao, Andrew J. Ferguson, Dan Zhao, Kosala Wijeratne, Alois Wuerger, Jeffrey L. Blackburn, Xavier Crispin, Simone Fabiano
Summary: The study of thermoelectric materials has shifted towards the use of carbon-based semiconductors, which are attracting attention due to their high abundance of atomic elements, easy processing, and low thermal conductivity. Constant discoveries of new materials and concepts have expanded the applications of thermoelectric materials. This review is divided into three sections, covering the basic principles of thermoelectric effects, efforts on developing devices utilizing these effects, and investigations on state-of-the-art thermoelectric materials.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Sadman Shakib, Benoit Rogez, Samira Khadir, Julien Polleux, Alois Wurger, Guillaume Baffou
Summary: Thermophoresis refers to the motion of particles along temperature gradients, which can be crucial in applications involving nano- and microscale heating. Recent studies have observed significant thermophoresis in nanoplasmonic applications and introduced a novel method for quantifying this effect.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
C. Panetier, Y. Pipon, C. Gaillard, D. Mangin, J. Amodeo, J. Morthomas, T. Wiss, A. Benedetti, R. Ducher, R. Dubourg, N. Moncoffre
Summary: Experimental investigations and atomistic simulations are combined to study the cesium diffusion processes at high temperature in UO2. The influence of defect type and concentration on cesium diffusion process is identified, and the corresponding activation energy is determined.
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS
(2022)
Article
Physics, Fluids & Plasmas
Harinadha Gidituri, Zaiyi Shen, Alois Wurger, Juho S. Lintuvuori
Summary: This study investigates the orientational and translational dynamics of spherical microswimmers trapped at fluid interfaces. The force dipole component exerts a torque, aligning pushers parallel to the interface and pullers in the normal direction. The source dipole component results in particle rotation only for a finite viscosity contrast between the two fluids. The superposition of these two contributions leads to a rotational dynamics with different steady-state orientations.
PHYSICAL REVIEW FLUIDS
(2022)
Article
Polymer Science
Matthias Nebouy, Julien Morthomas, Claudio Fusco, Laurent Chazeau, Sara Jabbari-Farouji, Guilhem P. Baeza
Summary: In this study, the impact of associative group aggregation on the mechanical properties of supramolecular networks was quantified using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations and experimental data. The results showed that the enhancement of the plateau modulus is attributed to both the increase in crystallite volume fraction and the change in the network's topology caused by the hardening of soft segments.
Article
Polymer Science
Julien Morthomas, Veronica Viola, Victor Vallejo-Otero, Guilhem P. Baeza
Summary: In this study, coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations are used to investigate the influence of chain topology on the structure and properties of crystallizable multiblock copolymers. It is found that the crystallization temperature is primarily determined by the length of the hard segments, regardless of the chain topology or the fraction of crystallizable units. However, the variation in topology results in significant structural differences, with ring and comb molecules forming more small and well-distributed crystallites compared to linear and star counterparts. This research contributes to the understanding of the structure-property relationship in thermoplastic elastomers and extends the fundamental knowledge of polymer crystallization.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Ayesha Sultana, Alois Wurger, Ziyauddin Khan, Mingna Liao, Magnus P. Jonsson, Reverant Crispin, Dan Zhao
Summary: This study investigates the mechanism of thermal voltages in ionic thermoelectric materials and finds that the concentration gradient significantly affects the thermal voltage in polyelectrolytes. The hydration of different cations influences the water concentration gradient, affecting the barrier height and ion-induced potential in the electrodes. The results demonstrate that the thermal voltage can be an order of magnitude larger than the contribution from thermoeffusion-induced potentials in ionic thermoelectric devices, particularly in ionic thermoelectric supercapacitors.
Article
Physics, Fluids & Plasmas
Marcela Rodriguez Matus, Zaicheng Zhang, Zouhir Benrahla, Arghya Majee, Abdelhamid Maali, Alois Wuerger
Summary: The study investigates electroviscous phenomena in a nanoscale capillary resulting from charge-flow coupling, using a theoretical approach based on Poisson-Boltzmann mean-field theory. The research presents a quantitative description of the electroviscous drag coefficient and electrostatic repulsion in a confined water film, with surface charge density as the only free parameter.
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
A. Sultana, A. Wurger, J. Phopase, X. Crispin, D. Zhao
Summary: Ionic thermoelectric materials can generate high thermal voltage under small temperature differences due to their large Seebeck coefficient. Understanding the mechanism of the Seebeck coefficient in practical electrolytes is still a main challenge.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY C
(2022)
Review
Chemistry, Applied
Dan Zhao, Alois Wurger, Xavier Crispin
Summary: Ionic thermoelectric technology has the potential to charge energy storage devices by utilizing temperature gradients, offering low-cost and large-area devices for heat-to-energy conversion.
JOURNAL OF ENERGY CHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Physics, Fluids & Plasmas
Zoran Cenev, Alois Wurger, Quan Zhou
Summary: The motion of particles on an air-paramagnetic-liquid interface is not only governed by magnetic energy, but also influenced by the curvature of the interface deformation, gravitational potential, and the magnetic energy from the particles and the liquid.
