Transport and crystallization of colloidal particles in a thin nematic cell

In a thin planar nematic cell, the application of an AC electric field induces a macroscopic transport of micrometer-sized colloidal particles along the nematic director. We have analyzed the dependence of particle velocities on the electric-field amplitude and frequency and found that it decreases exponentially with increasing frequency. Using specially designed electrodes we have observed that colloidal particles could be pumped and accelerated across the field-no-field interface, and measured the structural force and the corresponding potential, which is of the order of 10000 k_BT for 4μm particles. We demonstrate that spatially periodic close-packed crystalline colloidal structures can be obtained, which are thermodinamically metastable for many days after turning off the electric field and slowly decay into linear chains. Above the nematic-isotropic phase transition, such crystalline structures are non-stable and decay in few minutes.     

Applied electric field to fabricate colloidal crystals with the photonic band-gap in communication waveband

The macropore silica colloidal crystal templates were assembled orderly in a capillary glass tube by an applied electric field method to control silica deposition. In order to achieve the photonic band gap (PBG) of colloidal crystal in optical communication waveband, the diameter of silica microspheres is selected by Bragg diffraction formula. An experiment was designed to test the bandgap of the silica crystal templates. This paper discusses the formation process and the close-packed fashion of the silica colloidal crystal templates was discussed. The surface morphology of the templates was also analyzed. The results showed that the close-packed fashion of silica array templates was face-centered cubic (FCC) structure. The agreement is very good between the experimental data and the theoretical calculation.     

Field-induced phases of an orientable charged particle in a dilute background of point charges

We report numerical simulations of a two-dimensional dynamical model comprised of a rodlike particle surrounded by a cloud of smaller particles of the same charge, in the presence of an alternating electric field inside a box. We show that this system displays a remarkable dynamical effect; at low forcing frequencies the rod tends to align perpendicularly to the external field, whereas for higher field frequencies the standard orientation (parallel to the field) prevails. Interestingly, the transition between orientations is abrupt enough to resemble a phase transition. The fact that the "anomalous" orientation (perpendicular to the field) takes place is also interesting in the light of some recent laboratory experiments on colloidal solutions, where anomalous orientation at low frequencies was observed. Our toy model suggests that future physically realistic simulations of these systems should explore whether the anomalous orientation may be due to the collective dynamics of the colloidal particles, without necessarily involving more sophisticated electro-osmotic effects.     

Impact of electric fields on the speed of contact line in vertical deposition of diluted colloids

We report experimental results on the influence of electric fields on the contact line dynamics of the vertical deposition of water-based diluted colloidal suspensions. We measure the speed of macroscopically receding contact line for different initial concentrations and applied voltages. We explain the observed behavior via the electrophoretic effect in the region near the contact line. The electrophoretic effect induces a concentration gradient along the direction of the applied field which influences the morphology of the dried deposit of colloidal particles. Thus the applied field has an effect on the receding contact line through morphological formation and its transition.     

Structure transitions of polymer-mediated colloidal crystals

The self-assembled colloidal crystals with structure transitions were realized experimentally on substrates with polymer brushes. Such polymer-mediated colloidal crystals were found to experience a series of in-layer structure transitions including stable columnar, polycrystalline, mixed square-hexagonal, square, hexagonal structures when the mass ratio of colloidal particles to free polymers was adjusted from 0.125 to 10. Among these structures, a large area interfacial square structure was proved to be a body-centered tetragonal (BCT) structure in three dimensions in the polymer-mediated colloidal crystals.     

High pressure and temperature study of hydrogen storage material BH3NH3 from ab initio calculations

We report on BH₃NH₃, which is material considered promising to use as hydrogen storage, using density functional theory with generalized gradient approximation (GGA). We study the phase transition of BH₃NH₃ at high pressure and temperature. Our observed phase transition of BH₃NH₃ from body-centered tetragonal to orthorhombic at supports the recent and earlier studies. We observe the phase transformation of BH₃NH₃ at , which is in good agreement with experimental value. Specifically, we predict the phase transition at to be orthorhombic to body-centered tetragonal on the basis of our first principles calculations.     

Two scenarios for colloidal phase transitions

A two-dimensional assembly of charged colloidal particles induced by an alternating electric field was studied in real space by means of digital video microscopy. Phase transitions occur from a highly ordered colloidal monolayer to an isotropic suspension by changing the field strength or frequency (in the appropriate range). In particular, it is found that the strength-dependent phase transition is an infinite-order phase transition, in contrast with the frequency-dependent phase transition, which is a second-order phase transition.     

Pressure dependent incommensuration in Rb-IV

Rb-IV is found to have an incommensurate composite structure, comprising a tetragonal host framework and a simple body-centered tetragonal guest. This does not have the unexpectedly short Rb-Rb distances of the previously reported structure [U. Schwarz et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 4085 (1999)]. The ratio of the c-axis lattice parameters is strongly pressure dependent and approaches the commensurate value of 5/3 at the transition to phase V. A reversible broadening of the guest structure is observed below 16.5(2) GPa.     

Molecular dynamics investigation of the size effect upon the β → α transformation in Zr nanocrystals

The stability of the β phase in cubic zirconium nanoparticles has been calculated as a function of the size r (r varies in the range from 2.5 to 11.5 nm) by the molecular dynamics method with the many-body interatomic interaction potential obtained within the embedded-atom model. It has been demonstrated that the temperature T _k at which the cubic cluster of body-centered cubic zirconium becomes structurally unstable depends nonlinearly on the particle size. The curve T _k (r) exhibits a pronounced maximum in the range r ≈ 4.3−4.7 nm. It has been established that the mechanism of the structural transition from the body-centered cubic phase to the hexagonal close-packed phase depends substantially on the particle size. For particles with sizes in the range from 2.5 to 5.0 nm, there exists a temperature range in which the transition from the body-centered cubic phase to the hexagonal close-packed phase remains incomplete for a long time. In this case, two phases coexist and the initial particle undergoes a strong deformation along the habit plane.     

Electric-field-induced phase transition in the relaxor ceramics based on PMN-PT

The mechanisms of formation of a plateau in dependences of the reversible permittivity on the external electric field strength in a ceramic sample of the yPZN-mPMN-nPNN — xPT (x = 0, 3; y = 0.0982; m = 0.4541; n = 0.1477) system have been analyzed using X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy. It has been shown that, in electric fields corresponding to the permittivity anomaly, there occurs an induced phase transition from the heterophase (tetragonal + pseudocubic) state to the single-phase (tetragonal) state. This leads to significant strains of the tetragonal unit cell (up to 0.1%) and the termination of 90° domain switching. The proposed qualitative model of the formation of the observed dielectric anomaly is based on two processes occurring with an increase in the electric field strength: the growth of polar regions of the tetragonal phase and their switching.     

Electric double layer of anisotropic dielectric colloids under electric fields

Anisotropic colloidal particles constitute an important class of building blocks for self-assembly directed by electrical fields. The aggregation of these building blocks is driven by induced dipole moments, which arise from an interplay between dielectric effects and the electric double layer. For particles that are anisotropic in shape, charge distribution, and dielectric properties, calculation of the electric double layer requires coupling of the ionic dynamics to a Poisson solver. We apply recently proposed methods to solve this problem for experimentally employed colloids in static and time-dependent electric fields. This allows us to predict the effects of field strength and frequency on the colloidal properties.     

An Exotic Phase Change in Dynamic Electrorheological Fluids

It is well known that constant or time-varying electric fields can induce phase changes in electrorheological(ER) fluids, from a liquid to semi-solid state, provided the field strength is larger than some critical value. We describe here an experimental and theoretical study considering yet a different class of phase changes, specifically those for an ER fluid in the presence of both shear flow and a time-varying electric field. We note that as the frequency of the field is decreased, the ER fluid will go from a liquid to an intermediate transition state, and eventually to a shear banding state. Our theoretical analysis further indicates that this phase change originates from competing effects of viscous and electrical forces. Ultimately, we conclude that it is possible to achieve various states and corresponding(desired)macroscopic properties of dynamic colloidal suspensions by adjusting the frequency of the externally applied electric field.     

三维有序二氧化锰大孔材料的模板技术合成及表征

以单分散SiO2 胶态晶体球形成的三维有序结构为模板 ,利用胶体晶模板技术合成了三维长程有序的二氧化锰大孔材料 .通过X射线粉末衍射 (XRD)和扫描电子显微镜 (SEM)对产物进行了表征 .其中XRD数据显示所得产物为纯四方相二氧化锰 .SEM结果表明 ,所合成的二氧化锰大孔材料孔大小均匀 ,空间排列高度有序 ,很好地复制了SiO2 胶态晶体球的自组装方式 .此外 ,对三维有序二氧化锰大孔材料的合成过程进行了分析 ,研究了前体填充次数对产物孔结构的完整性和有序性的影响 ,还发现产物孔径的收缩存在异常现象 .     

平板电极间胶体晶体在电场作用下的各向同性压缩

用直径 300 nm的聚苯乙烯微球配制不同浓度的胶体晶体溶液, 将其快速注入内表面镀有导电薄膜的玻璃样品池中, 形成 (111) 晶面平行于玻璃表面的面心立方单晶结构. 通过激光衍射Kossel线方法, 研究了不同体积分数的胶体晶体样品 及它们在均匀电场作用下晶体结构的变化. 实验发现, 随着电场强度的增加, 胶体晶体表现为各向同性的压缩. 胶体晶体在恒定电场下始终保持面心立方结构, 晶格常数随着电场强度的增加逐渐减小. 实验结果可用电场力、电流体力学作用力及颗粒间静电斥力共同解释: 电场力使带电微球克服静电斥力并沿电场反方向运动导致晶体压缩, 而由电场力作用引起的电流体力学液流产生的持续推力使垂直于电场平面上的胶体微球相互靠近. 本实验为天宫一号搭载科学实验的地基实验. 关键词： 胶体晶体 Kossel衍射 结构变化     

Electrical manipulation of nanomagnets

We demonstrate that it is possible to manipulate the magnetic coupling between two nanomagnets by means of an ac electric field. In the scheme suggested, the magnetic coupling is mediated by a magnetic particle that is in contact with both nanomagnets via tunnel barriers. The time-dependent electric field is applied so that the height of first one barrier then the other is suppressed in an alternating fashion. We show that the result is a pumping of magnetization from one nanomagnet to the other through the mediating particle. The dynamics of the magnetization of the mediating particle allows the coupling to be switched between being ferromagnetic and being antiferromagnetic.     

Electric field gradient in pure hexagonal transition metals

Using a general calculation of the nuclear quadrupole interaction in non-cubic metals which was presented in a previous paper, this article gives an interpretation of experimental data dealing with signs and temperature dependence of the electric field gradient in 3d(Sc, Ti), 4d(Y, Zr, Tc, Ru) and 5d (Hf, Re, Os) transition hexagonal close-packed metals.     

Effect of dielectric confinement on optical properties of colloidal nanostructures

We review the effects caused by a large difference in the dielectric constants of a semiconductor and its surrounding in colloidal semiconductor nanostructures (NSs) with various shapes, e.g., nanocrystals, nanorods, and nanoplatelets. The difference increases the electron–hole interaction and consequently the exciton binding energy and its oscillator transition strength. On the other hand, this difference reduces the electric field of a photon penetrating the NS (the phenomenon is called the local field effect) and reduces the photon coupling to an exciton. We show that the polarization properties of the individual colloidal NSs as well as of their randomly oriented ensemble are determined both by the anisotropy of the local field effect and by the symmetry of the exciton states participating in optical transitions. The calculations explain the temperature and time dependences of the degree of linear polarization measured in an ensemble of CdSe nanocrystals.     

Structural phase transition induced by the Jahn-Teller effect. Antiferrodistortive ordering

We study the phase transitions induced by the Jahn-Teller effect ofE-doublet ions in a cubic crystal with antiferrodistortive interactions. AnS=1 pseudospin model is constructed which takes the three lowest vibronic levels of the Jahn-Teller complexes into account. We find a second-order phase transition to a tetragonal phase with two inequivalent sublattices. The transitions between the vibronic levels give rise to bands of collective vibronic excitations with strongly temperature-dependent frequencies. The nature of the various modes is analyzed in detail. We also study the coupling to the elastic displacement field of the crystal. For a sufficiently large coupling constant, this coupling stabilizes a different low-temperature tetragonal phase with two equivalent sublattices. In a certain region of coupling constants, a transition occurs between the two tetragonal phases by second-order transitions to an intermediate phase of lower symmetry. The influence of the coupling on the dynamic behaviour is discussed.Supported by Schweizerischer Nationalfonds     

Structural phase transition induced by the Jahn-Teller effect. Antiferrodistortive ordering

We study the phase transitions induced by the Jahn-Teller effect ofE-doublet ions in a cubic crystal with antiferrodistortive interactions. AnS=1 pseudospin model is constructed which takes the three lowest vibronic levels of the Jahn-Teller complexes into account. We find a second-order phase transition to a tetragonal phase with two inequivalent sublattices. The transitions between the vibronic levels give rise to bands of collective vibronic excitations with strongly temperature-dependent frequencies. The nature of the various modes is analyzed in detail. We also study the coupling to the elastic displacement field of the crystal. For a sufficiently large coupling constant, this coupling stabilizes a different low-temperature tetragonal phase with two equivalent sublattices. In a certain region of coupling constants, a transition occurs between the two tetragonal phases by second-order transitions to an intermediate phase of lower symmetry. The influence of the coupling on the dynamic behaviour is discussed.     

Ground state of a dipolar crystal

We provide some of the strongest evidence to date that the ground state structure of an infinite collection of point dipoles with hardcore sphere interactions is body-centered tetragonal. The structure with the next highest binding energy is not face-centered cubic; a particular honeycomb structure has lower energy.