Wetting transition of a nematic liquid crystal on a periodic wedge-structured substrate

It is known that the wetting behaviour of a fluid is deeply altered by the presence of rough or structured substrates. We first review some simple considerations about isotropic fluids and rough substrates, and then we generalize Wenzel's law, which assigns an effective contact angle to a droplet on a rough substrate, when the wetting layer has an ordered phase, like a nematic. We estimate the conditions for which the wetting behavior of an ordered fluid can be qualitatively different from that usually found in a simple fluid. To support our general considerations, we use the Landau-de Gennes mean field approach to investigate theoretically and numerically the wetting transition of a nematic phase on a periodic triangular structured substrate.     

The influence of substrate geometry on the emission properties of a liquid metal ion source

The effect of needle radius, cone angle and shaft diameter on the threshold voltage and angular intensity — total current relationships for a Ga liquid-metal ion source (LMIS) was investigated. The variation of threshold voltage with needle geometry could be described in terms of the Taylor theory of liquid cone formation by electrostatic fields. The beam energy spread was mainly a function of total source current and was not a sensitive function of emitter geometry. Source angular intensity at a constant total current increased linearly with threshold voltage when the latter was altered due to source geometry.     

Wetting of liquid droplets on two parallel filaments

Droplet wetting on two parallel filaments may assume a barrel-shaped morphology or a liquid bridge depending upon the filament diameter and spacing, droplet volume, and contact angle. This paper is aimed to examine the dependency of droplet wetting length upon the above parameters. In the process, morphology of either a barrel-shaped droplet or a liquid bridge sitting on two parallel filaments is determined numerically by using surface finite element method (SFEM). Variation of wetting length with contact angle is examined at varying droplet volume, filament spacing, and droplet morphology. It is found that the droplet wetting length increases with decreasing filament spacing ratio as well as contact angle while it also increases with the growth of droplet volume. The dependency of wetting length upon contact angle behaves sensitive to filament spacing in the case of stable liquid bridges, while it exhibits nearly constant sensitivity to the contact angle in the case of barrel-shaped droplets. The quantitative relations yielded in this study can be considered as characteristic curves applicable for a variety of droplet-on-filament systems, particularly useful to wetting property characterization of filaments, micro liquid delivery, biological cell manipulation, etc.     

Study of explosive boiling of transparent liquid on metal substrate exposed to nanosecond laser pulses

Preliminary experimental investigation of photoacoustic pressure signals induced by nanosecond laser pulses in aluminum targets contacting a water layer was performed. It was shown that for some laser intensities the signal has a two-peak structure. The first peak is due to the thermoelastic effect, while the other results from the explosive evaporation. At low intensities, only the first peak is observed. At sufficiently high intensities, the signal recovers the one-peak shape and becomes narrower as compared with the two-peak shape because of the rapid increase in evaporation pressure and earlier beginning of the explosive evaporation.     

Nonlinear optoacoustic transformation in the system of dielectric substrate/submicron metal coating/liquid

The optoacoustic method has been shown to be an accurate technique for the measurement of the properties of submicron metal coatings deposited on a dielectric substrate, i.e., mirrors. The method has been previously theoretically described in terms of a linear model of optoacoustic transformation in a system substrate/coating/liquid. The goal of the present work was to determine the limits at which the linear model is still applicable. The modification of the laser induced acoustic signal profiles and transfer functions of optoacoustic transformation versus the laser fluence was studied for two liquids: ethanol and water.     

Viscous to inertial crossover in liquid drop coalescence

Using an electrical method and high-speed imaging, we probe drop coalescence down to 10?ns after the drops touch. By varying the liquid viscosity over two decades, we conclude that, at a sufficiently low approach velocity where deformation is not present, the drops coalesce with an unexpectedly late crossover time between a regime dominated by viscous and one dominated by inertial effects. We argue that the late crossover, not accounted for in the theory, can be explained by an appropriate choice of length scales present in the flow geometry.     

Rapid crystallization of copper on the own liquid substrate

The phenomenon of rapid crystallization of metals in low-temperature laser plasma is described. Possiblemechanism of the crystallization on the melt surface formed upon laser exposure is described. The major factors affecting the crystallization process are analyzed.     

金属衬底上石墨烯的红外近场光学

对石墨烯/铜体系开展了系统性的近场光学实验研究,成功观测到了区别于铜衬底的、来自石墨烯的近场光学响应信号,发现在表面台阶几何参数相同的铜衬底上的不同石墨烯样品表现出了截然不同的近场光学响应.     

Atomized spraying of liquid metal droplets on desired substrate surfaces as a generalized way for ubiquitous printed electronics

A direct electronics printing technique through atomized spraying for patterning room-temperature liquid metal droplets on desired substrate surfaces is proposed and experimentally demonstrated for the first time. This method is highly flexible and capable of fabricating electronic components on various target objects, with either flat or rough surfaces, made of different materials, or having different orientations from 2D to 3D geometrical configurations. With a pre-designed mask, the liquid metal ink can be directly deposited on the substrate to form various specific patterns which lead to the rapid prototyping of electronic devices. Further, extended printing strategies were also suggested to illustrate the adaptability of the method. For example, it can be used for making transparent conductive film with an optical transmittance of 47 % and a sheet resistance of 5.167Ω/□ due to natural porous structure. Different from the former direct writing technology where large surface tension and poor adhesion between the liquid metal and the substrate often impede the flexible printing process, the liquid metal here no longer needs to be pre-oxidized to guarantee its applicability on target substrates. One critical mechanism was that the atomized liquid metal microdroplets can be quickly oxidized in the air due to its large specific surface area, resulting in a significant increase of the adhesion capacity and thus firm deposition of the ink to the substrate. This study paved a generalized way for pervasively and directly printing electronics on various substrates which are expected to be significant in a wide spectrum of electrical engineering areas.     

Influence of the two-directionally-rubbed substrate on the alignment of liquid crystals

The alignment of liquid crystals (LCs) on a two-directionally-rubbed substrate is investigated. The two-directionally-rubbed substrate distorts and frustrates the orientation of the LCs next to it, and hence influences the order parameter of the LC cell. Experimental findings indicate that the rubbing strengths in the different rubbing directions and the cell thickness significantly affect the order parameter, and hence affect the electro-optical response of the LC cell.     

Ordered ultra thin ZnO films on metal substrate

Ultra thin ZnO films were prepared on metal Mo(1 1 0) substrate under ultrahigh vacuum conditions either by depositing Zn in 10⁻⁵ Pa oxygen or by oxidizing pre-deposited Zn films. The films were characterized in situ by various surface analytical techniques, including Auger electron spectroscopy, X-ray and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopies, low energy electron diffraction and high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy. The results indicate that a long-range ordered and stoichiometric ZnO films are formed along its [0 0 0 1] direction. The annealing experiments show that as-prepared ZnO films are thermal stable until 800 K. This study provides constructive information to further understand the growth mechanism of ZnO films on different substrates.