Biomedical subjects

Frank van Swol

Publications and source records attributed to Frank van Swol.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Superhydrophobicity: drying transition of confined water.

Long-range hydrophobic interactions operating underwater are important in the mediation of many natural and synthetic phenomena, such as protein folding, adhesion and colloid stability. Here we show that rough hydrophobic surfaces can experience attractive forces over distances more than 30 times greater than any reported previously, owing to the spontaneous evaporation of the intervening, confined water. Our finding highlights the importance of surface roughness in the interaction of extended structures in water, which has so far been largely overlooked.

Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions↗

PubMed2006

Drag reduction on a patterned superhydrophobic surface.

We present an experimental study of a low-Reynolds number shear flow between two surfaces, one of which has a regular grooved texture augmented with a superhydrophobic coating. The combination reduces the effective fluid-surface contact area, thereby appreciably decreasing the drag on the surface and effectively changing the macroscopic boundary condition on the surface from no slip to limited slip. We measure the force on the surface and the velocity field in the immediate vicinity on the surface (and thus the wall shear) simultaneously. The latter facilitates a direct assessment of the effective slip length associated with the drag reduction.

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PubMed2006

Molecular simulations of lubrication and solvation forces.

We report on molecular-dynamics simulations of the drag force experienced by a smooth sphere as it approaches a smooth planar surface to test the predictions of classical hydrodynamic theory. We use a simple repulsive Lennard-Jones-like model to represent the fluid interactions, and calculate the total force on the sphere as a function of its radius, velocity, and distance from the surface. We find that the presence of static solvation forces complicates the testing of hydrodynamic theory which predicts a divergent repulsive lubrication force as the gap vanishes. The solvation force contribution is most prominent at small gaps and small velocities. For a smooth wall its presence can lead to a total force that is oscillating between positive and negative, quite different from the hydrodynamic prediction. To enable an improved test of the lubrication predictions, we propose a different approach that measures the total force for approaching as well as receding spheres. We suggest a simple general analysis that decouples the dynamic and static force contributions on the sphere. The new decoupling method is applicable to simulations and laboratory experiments alike. We illustrate its power by applying it to the molecular-dynamics data.

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PubMed2005

Investigating the interface of superhydrophobic surfaces in contact with water.

Neutron reflectivity (NR) is used to probe the solid, liquid, vapor interface of a porous superhydrophobic (SH) surface submerged in water. A low-temperature, low-pressure technique was used to prepare a rough, highly porous organosilica aerogel-like film. UV/ozone treatments were used to control the surface coverage of hydrophobic organic ligands on the silica framework, allowing the contact angle with water to be continuously varied over the range of 160 degrees (superhydrophobic) to <10 degrees (hydrophilic). NR shows that the superhydrophobic nature of the surface prevents infiltration of water into the porous film. Atomic force microscopy and density functional theory simulations are used in combination to interpret the NR results and help establish the location, width, and nature of the SH film-water interface.

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PubMed2004

Structure of random foam.

The Surface Evolver was used to compute the equilibrium microstructure of dry soap foams with random structure and a wide range of cell-size distributions. Topological and geometric properties of foams and individual cells were evaluated. The theory for isotropic Plateau polyhedra describes the dependence of cell geometric properties on their volume and number of faces. The surface area of all cells is about 10% greater than a sphere of equal volume; this leads to a simple but accurate theory for the surface free energy density of foam. A novel parameter based on the surface-volume mean bubble radius R32 is used to characterize foam polydispersity. The foam energy, total cell edge length, and average number of faces per cell all decrease with increasing polydispersity. Pentagonal faces are the most common in monodisperse foam but quadrilaterals take over in highly polydisperse structures.

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PubMed2004

Synthesis of peptide-nanotube platinum-nanoparticle composites.

Nanotubes prepared by the self-assembly of D-Phe-D-Phe molecules are investigated by electron microscopy and Monte Carlo simulations; the nanotubes appear to be porous and are capable of forming novel peptide-nanotube platinum-nanoparticle composites.

Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions↗

PubMed2004

Controlled synthesis of 2-D and 3-D dendritic platinum nanostructures.

Seeding and autocatalytic reduction of platinum salts in aqueous surfactant solution using ascorbic acid as the reductant leads to remarkable dendritic metal nanostructures. In micellar surfactant solutions, spherical dendritic metal nanostructures are obtained, and the smallest of these nanodendrites resemble assemblies of joined nanoparticles and the nanodendrites are single crystals. With liposomes as the template, dendritic platinum sheets in the form of thin circular disks or solid foamlike nanomaterials can be made. Synthetic control over the morphology of these nanodendrites, nanosheets, and nanostructured foams is realized by using a tin-porphyrin photocatalyst to conveniently and effectively produce a large initial population of catalytic growth centers. The concentration of seed particles determines the ultimate average size and uniformity of these novel two- and three-dimensional platinum nanostructures.

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PubMed2003

Structure of random monodisperse foam.

The Surface Evolver was used to calculate the equilibrium microstructure of random monodisperse soap froth, starting from Voronoi partitions of randomly packed spheres. The sphere packing has a strong influence on foam properties, such as E (surface free energy) and (average number of faces per cell). This means that random foams composed of equal-volume cells come in a range of structures with different topological and geometric properties. Annealing-subjecting relaxed foams to large-deformation, tension-compression cycles-provokes topological transitions that can further reduce E and . All of the foams have <or=14. The topological statistics and census of cell types for fully annealed foams are in excellent agreement with experiments by Matzke. Geometric properties related to surface area, edge length, and stress are evaluated for the foams and their individual cells. Simple models based on regular polygons predict trends for the edge length of individual cells and the area of individual faces. Graphs of surface area vs shape anisotropy for the cells reflect the geometrical frustration in random monodisperse foam, which is epitomized by pentagonal dodecahedra: they have low surface area but do not pack to fill space.

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PubMed2003

Functional nanocomposites prepared by self-assembly and polymerization of diacetylene surfactants and silicic acid.

Conjugated polymer/silica nanocomposites with hexagonal, cubic, or lamellar mesoscopic order were synthesized by self-assembly using polymerizable amphiphilic diacetylene molecules as both structure-directing agents and monomers. The self-assembly procedure is rapid and incorporates the organic monomers uniformly within a highly ordered, inorganic environment. By tailoring the size of the oligo(ethylene glycol) headgroup of the diacetylene-containing surfactant, we varied the resulting self-assembled mesophases of the composite material. The nanostructured inorganic host altered the diacetylene polymerization behavior, and the resulting nanocomposites show unique thermo-, mechano-, and solvatochromic properties. Polymerization of the incorporated surfactants resulted in polydiacetylene (PDA)/silica nanocomposites that were optically transparent and mechanically robust. Molecular modeling and quantum calculations and (13)C spin-lattice relaxation times (T(1)) of the PDA/silica nanocomposites indicated that the surfactant monomers can be uniformly organized into precise spatial arrangements prior to polymerization. Nanoindentation and gas transport experiments showed that these nanocomposite films have increased hardness and reduced permeability as compared to pure PDA. Our work demonstrates polymerizable surfactant/silica self-assembly to be an efficient, general approach to the formation of nanostructured conjugated polymers. The nanostructured inorganic framework serves to protect, stabilize, and orient the polymer, mediate its performance, and provide sufficient mechanical and chemical stability to enable integration of conjugated polymers into devices and microsystems.

Acetylene↗

PubMed2002

Lattice density functional theory investigation of pore shape effects. I. Adsorption in single nonperiodic pores.

A fully explicit in three dimensions lattice density functional theory is used to investigate adsorption in single nonperiodic pores. The effect of varying pore shape from the slits and cylinders that are normally simulated was our primary interest. A secondary concern was the results for pores with very large diameters. The shapes investigated were square pores with or without surface roughness, cylinders, right triangle pores, and trapezoidal pores. It was found that pores with very similar shape factors gave similar results but that the introduction of acute angled corners or very large side ratio lengths in rectangular pores gave results that were significantly different. Further, a rectangular pore going towards the limit of infinite side ratio does not approach the results of a slit pore. In all of these cases, the importance of features that are present for only a small portion of the pore is demonstrated.

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PubMed2002

Lattice density functional theory investigation of pore shape effects. II. Adsorption in collections of noninterconnected pores.

A fully explicit three-dimensional lattice density functional theory is used to investigate adsorption behavior in collections of noninterconnected pores. The study focuses on the effects of external surfaces and the shape of individual pores on the adsorption and desorption isotherms. Pore shapes far more varied than the traditionally considered cylinders and slitlike pores allow a better assessment of the general role of pore geometry. Pore shapes that exhibit acute angles display significantly different adsorption and desorption branches. For most pores the presence of an exterior surface greatly reduces the extent of the hysteresis loop through meniscus formation. However, for sufficiently large pores a thick film present on the exterior surface can interfere with meniscus formation and lead to desorption controlled by the thick film. A comparison was made with recent experiments on well-characterized systems of noninterconnected pores. The calculations do not agree with the experimental adsorptions if the models are based on the pore types suggested by the experimental work. Improved agreement can be obtained by considering small bottlenecks along the length of the pores length. To establish the presence of such a feature would probably require more detailed experimental characterization.

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