Search results for "Colloid"
showing 10 items of 1288 documents
Free-energy barriers for crystal nucleation from fluid phases.
2017
Monte Carlo simulations of crystal nuclei coexisting with the fluid phase in thermal equilibrium in finite volumes are presented and analyzed, for fluid densities from dense melts to the vapor. Generalizing the lever-rule for two-phase coexistence in the canonical ensemble to finite volume, "measurements" of the nucleus volume together with the pressure and chemical potential of the surrounding fluid allows to extract the surface free energy of the nucleus. Neither the knowledge of the (in general non-spherical) nucleus shape nor of the angle-dependent interface tension is required for this task. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated for a variant of the Asakura-Oosawa model for c…
Direct Observation in 3d of Structural Crossover in Binary Hard Sphere Mixtures
2016
For binary fluid mixtures of spherical particles in which the two species are sufficiently different in size, the dominant wavelength of oscillations of the pair correlation functions is predicted to change from roughly the diameter of the large species to that of the small species along a sharp crossover line in the phase diagram [C. Grodon, M. Dijkstra, R. Evans & R. Roth, J.Chem.Phys. 121, 7869 (2004)]. Using particle-resolved colloid experiments in 3d we demonstrate that crossover exists and that its location in the phase diagram is in quantitative agreement with the results of both theory and our Monte-Carlo simulations. In contrast with previous work [J. Baumgartl, R. Dullens, M. …
Application of Tunable-Slip Boundary Conditions in Particle-Based Simulations
2014
Compared to macroscopic systems, fluids on the micro- and nanoscales have a larger surface-to-volume ratio, thus the boundary condition becomes crucial in determining the fluid properties. No-slip boundary condition has been applied successfully to wide ranges of macroscopic phenomena, but its validity in microscopic scale is questionable. A more realistic description is that the flow exhibits slippage at the surface, which can be characterized by a Navier slip length. We present a tunable-slip method by implementing Navier boundary condition in particle-based computer simulations (Dissipative Particle Dynamics as an example). To demonstrate the validity and versatility of our method, we ha…
Plasmon-based free-radical photopolymerization : effect of diffusion on nanolithography processes
2011
This Article interrogates the mechanisms responsible for nanoscale photopolymerization induced by confined and enhanced electromagnetic fields. Surface plasmon dipolar resonance of individual Ag nanoparticles was used as an optical near-field source to locally trigger the reaction of a photopolymerizable formulation. Laser excitation of the nanoparticles embedded in the formulation reproducibly generates polymer features with typical dimensions ranging from 2 nm to a few tens of nanometer. We have determined the physicochemical parameters and mechanisms controlling the spatial extent of the photopolymerization process. We found that the diffusion of the dye is the main process limiting the …
Faceted phospholipid vesicles tailored for the delivery of Santolina insularis essential oil to the skin
2015
The aim of this work was to formulate Santolina insularis essential oil-loaded nanocarriers, namely Penetration Enhancer containing Vesicles (PEVs), evaluate the physico-chemical features and stability, and gain insights into their ability to deliver the oil to the skin.S. insularis essential oil was obtained by steam distillation, and was predominantly composed of terpenes, the most abundant being β-phellandrene (22.6%), myrcene (11.4%) and curcumenes (12.1%). Vesicles were prepared using phosphatidylcholine, and ethylene or propylene glycol were added to the water phase (10% (v/v)) to improve vesicle performances as delivery systems. Vesicles were deeply characterized by light scattering,…
Enantioselective Total Syntheses of (+)-Hippolachnin A, (+)-Gracilioether A, (-)-Gracilioether E, and (-)-Gracilioether F.
2018
The Plakortin polyketides represent a structurally and biologically fascinating class of marine natural products. Herein, we report a unified strategy that enables the divergent syntheses of various Plakortin polyketides with high step-economy and overall efficiency. As proof-of-concept cases, the enantioselective total syntheses of (+)-hippolachnin A, (+)-gracilioether A, (-)-gracilioether E, and (-)-gracilioether F have been accomplished based on a series of bio-inspired, rationally designed, or serendipitously discovered transformations, which include (1) an organocatalytic asymmetric 1,4-conjugate addition to assemble the common chiral γ-butenolide intermediate enroute to all of the afo…
Gold nanoparticles grown on a hydrophobic and texturally tunable PDMS-like framework
2021
Mesoporous silicas are among the most suitable high-surface area solids to support small-sized metal clusters and nanoparticles. Unfortunately, the instability of silica in water constitutes a serious impediment for its widespread use and large implementation as a catalytic support for fine chemical synthesis and for biomass upgrading in the context of biorefineries. While end cupping silanols provides a way for delaying framework degradation, further investigations are needed to design more robust, water-resistant supports. Prompted by the success of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) in surface coating and water-repellent technologies, we herein explore the transformation of triethoxysilyl-funct…
Excess free energy of nanoparticles in a polymer brush
2008
Abstract We present an efficient method for direct determination of the excess free energy Δ F of a nanoparticle inserted into a polymer brush. In contrast to Widom's insertion method, the present approach can be efficiently implemented by Monte Carlo or Molecular Dynamics methods also in a dense environment. In the present investigation the method is used to determine the free energy penalty Δ F ( R , D ) for placing a spherical particle with an arbitrary radius R at different positions D between the grafting plane and the brush surface. Deep inside the brush, or for dense brushes, one finds Δ F ∝ R 3 whereas for shallow nanoclusions Δ F ∝ R 2 , regardless of the particle interaction (…
The apparently anomalous effects of surfactants on interfacial tension in the IBA/water system near its upper critical solution temperature
2016
We studied the effect of anionic, cationic, and nonionic surfactants on the interfacial tension between the two phases of the isobutyric acid/water system using spinning drop tensiometry. It has been found that interfacial tension decreases with increasing concentration of the surfactant in the case of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and of dodecyltrimethylammonium chloride (DTAC). However, in the case of Triton X-100 an increase of surfactant concentration leads to an increase of the interfacial tension. Such results are consistent with the upper critical solution temperature (UCST) in the presence of these surfactants: the UCST decreases with increasing SDS and DTAC concentrations while it i…
Amphiphilic Copolymers Based on Poly[(hydroxyethyl)-d,l-aspartamide]: A Suitable Functional Coating for Biocompatible Gold Nanostars
2013
Novel amphiphilic copolymers have been synthesized based on a biocompatible poly(hydroxyethylaspartamide) (PHEA) backbone, bearing both anchoring groups for gold nanoparticles, such as thiols and disulfide, and conjugable moieties, such as amino groups, the latter as points suitable for appending further functional agents. The strategy was to functionalize α,β-poly[(N-2- hydroxyethyl)-d,l-aspartamide] (PHEA) with PEG2000-NH2 and with ethylenediamine (EDA) obtaining a partially pegylated copolymer with a large number of pendant primary amino groups. A fraction of the latter was conjugated with molecules bearing terminal thiol moieties such as 12-mercaptododecanoic acid (MDA) and disulfide gr…