A Novel Test for the Appraisal of Solid/Solid Interfacial Interactions

The Johnson, Kendall and Roberts (JKR) technique has been used with considerable success for assessing solid/solid interfacial interactions over the past 25 years or so. Nevertheless, the contact zone between the two spherical solids is often small and the energy of adhesion scales with the cube of the contact radius (at low load), thus potentially magnifying errors in adhesion assessment. The theoretical aspects of a novel technique are presented here, in which a hollow, slightly inflated, spherical membrane replaces a full sphere, and is placed in contact with a flat rigid solid. A judicious choice of experimental conditions should lead to increased contact radius and the energy of adhesion scales with its square (at low load), thus reducing possible errors. An added advantage is that the effective elasticity of the sphere depends on internal gas pressure. Thus surface and bulk effects are decoupled.     

Global behavior of the diffusion coefficient for the Van Der Waals binary mixture

We describe the general dependence of the diffusion coefficient associated with the Van der Waals binary mixture on the temperature, number densities, and relative strengths of molecular interaction parameters. The task is facilitated by the fact that for Kac-type intermolecular potentials, in the long-range limit, the diffusion coefficient becomes simply related to the product of a partial compressibility and the curvature of the equilibrium free energy in the space of number densities. Therefore the different kinds of behavior found can be classified according to the scheme of Scott and Van Konynenburg for the global phase diagram of the same model mixture.Paper presented at the Tenth Symposium on Thermophysical Properties, June 20–23, 1988, Gaithersburg, Maryland, U.S.A.     

Phase diagrams beyond the critical point

Following a path in the usual p‐T‐diagrams of one‐component systems via the supercritical region it seems that one can make a transition from the liquid to the gas phase (and in reverse) without traversing a phase boundary curve, whereas in the sub‐critical region one clearly has to pass a phase boundary curve. To solve this paradox situation, the phase diagrams of one‐component systems are analyzed with respect to the phase transition from the liquid to the gas state in the sub‐ and supercritical range. It is shown that the critical point is not an isolated point or an end point on the phase boundary curve between the gaseous and the liquid phase in a p‐T‐diagram. Instead, it marks on the boundary curve just the transition between the section of a first order phase transition in the sub‐critical range and the section of a second or higher order phase transition in the supercritical range. Thus, the present phase diagrams of one‐component systems are incomplete with respect to the phase boundary curve between liquid and gas in the supercritical region. The result is illustrated using the model of a van der Waals gas.     

Impact of superplasticizer concentration and of ultra-fine particles on the rheological behaviour of dense mortar suspensions

This work aims at investigating the impact of the addition of superplasticizer and of ultra-fine particles, namely of silica fume and of precipitated titania, on the rheological behaviour of water-lean mortar pastes. The pastes are characterised in terms of their spread, their flowing behaviour and by means of performing a shear test, giving access to viscosity/shear gradient correlations. Adding superplasticizer is shown to shift the onset of shear thickening of the referring pastes to higher shear rates and to attenuate its otherwise rapid evolution, possibly by means of favouring steric particle-particle interactions. The workability of these mortars, which is characterised in terms of spread values and draining, is also improved. For the case of fly ash based mortars, adding ultra-fine particles is another way of (slightly) “retarding” shear thickening and of attenuating its evolution, possibly because of resulting in - on the average - lower hydrodynamic forces and reduced attractive Van der Waals interactions between particles. However, at the same time these mortars are characterised by a worsening in workability which is attributed to the huge amount of surface area provided by the ultra-fines.     

Type-II van der Waals heterostructures of GeC,ZnO and Al2SO monolayers for promising optoelectronic and photocatalytic applications

Two-dimensional materials stacked via van der Waals (vdW) forces provide a revolutionary route toward high-performance optoelectronic and renewable energy devices. Here, we report vdW heterostructures (vdWHs) consisting of GeC, ZnO and Al₂SO monolayers on first-principles computations. GeC (ZnO)–Al₂SO vdWHs are both stable type-II semiconductors with indirect (direct) band gaps. This significantly suppresses the recombination of photogenerated charge carriers across the interface, making them promising for light detection and harvesting applications. Charge transfer from GeC (Al₂SO) layer to Al₂SO (ZnO) layer leads to p-doping in GeC (Al₂SO) and n-doping in Al₂SO (ZnO) of GeC (ZnO)–Al₂SO vdWHs. In contrast to pristine monolayers, higher carrier mobility promotes charge transfer to the surface and reduces carrier recombination in GeC (ZnO)–Al₂SO vdWHs. Further, the absorption spectra indicate redshift (blueshift) and reveal more solar light is absorbed by GeC (ZnO)–AlS₂O vdWHs in the visible (ultraviolet) region. The band edge positions suggest that GeC–Al₂SO vdWHs can reduce water into H₂ but fails to perform an oxidation reaction at pH = 0. More interestingly, ZnO–Al₂SO vdWHs can perform redox reactions, making them prominent for overall water-splitting reactions. Our computational findings provide a path for the design of vdWHs for future optoelectronic and photovoltaic devices.     

Effects of bulk and surface properties of materials on adhesion-induced deformations between submicrometer diameter particles and substrates

—Spherical particles of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVF₂), of 0.3 μm diameter, were deposited onto various substrates including polyester, a polyester-polydimethylsiloxane block copolymer (hereafter referred to as PSBC), and polished silicon. The adhesion force-induced deformations between the particles and substrates were then observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that the particles embedded most deeply into the soft PSBC. No embedding of the particles into the Si wafers was observed, although the particles, themselves, appeared to flatten. The particles were also observed to embed into the polyester, although to a lesser extent than they did into the PSBC. Moreover, when the particles contacted samples of polyester which had been plasma-treated in argon, the embedding decreased. Measured contact area diameters are compared to predictions of various models of adhesion. The effect of the thickness of a conducting (Au/Pd) coating on the appearance of the contact zone is also discussed.     

Facing drift: a comparison of three methods

Drift is a common phenomenon in active sensors and, if left untreated, is generally the limiting factor in their performance. It is shown that drift and spread in sensor characteristics are tightly interwoven due to finite sensitivity to biasing parameters. Modern treatments of drift are dynamical under operating conditions, notably so chopping, the sensitivity variation method and the recently introduced van Putten-method. These methods differ in regards to drift-dependence on biasing. In their application to silicon flow sensors, the first two reduce but do not eliminate drift. The geometric van Putten-method leaves biasing invariant, which eliminates drift and obtains uniform sensor-characteristics leaving drift-free operation.