Water glides freely across 'nanodrapes' made from the world's thinnest material
(Phys.org) —Engineering researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new drape made from graphene—the thinnest material known to science—which can enhance the water-resistant...
View ArticleNew surface treatment stops scale buildup
Scale, as these deposits are known, causes inefficiencies, downtime, and maintenance issues. In the oil and gas industry, scale has sometimes led to the complete shutdown, at least temporarily, of...
View ArticleScientists challenge classical phenomenon that water always completely wets...
Viewed macroscopically at room temperature, when water contacts other water, it will spread out and finally both mix together. In 2009, Chinese researchers first reported observing the formation of a...
View ArticleEngineers use liquid drops to make solids stiffer
(Phys.org)—Engineers at Yale University have discovered that the stiffness of liquid drops embedded in solids has something in common with Goldilocks: While large drops of liquids are softer than the...
View ArticleImportant step towards quantum computing: Metals at atomic scale
German scientists from RWTH Aachen, Research Center Jülich, TU Dresden and of the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden report that the current flow on the surface of a...
View ArticleImage: Serene Saturn
From a distance Saturn seems to exude an aura of serenity and peace.
View ArticleAn expression for droplet deformation simplifies calculations for a wide...
A simple formula that describes the initial deformation of a droplet as it hits a solid surface is likely to help to model droplet behavior in a variety of different contexts, shows new research by...
View ArticleBiodegradable absorbent from water lily to attend oil spills
The water lily transformed from a plague to the main ingredient of a biodegradable absorbent that resolves spills or leaks of hydrocarbons, oils and other industrial substances, both in solid surfaces...
View ArticleAnti-microbial coatings with a long-term effect for surfaces
Hygienic conditions and sterile procedures are particularly important in hospitals, kitchens and sanitary facilities, air conditioning and ventilation systems, in food preparation and in the...
View ArticleDiscovery about how surface gradients influence droplet behavior may enable...
Studies of the impact a droplet makes on solid surfaces hark back more than a century. And until now, it was generally believed that a droplet's impact on a solid surface could always be separated into...
View ArticleNew deposition technique enhances optoelectronic properties of lasers
A simple new electron-beam multilayer deposition technique for creating intracavity contacts—an important component of gallium nitride-based (III-nitride) vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers...
View ArticleInvestigating how droplets move around on a surface shows us why it is...
Not everyone ponders sets of partial differential equations when watching droplets slide down a window on a rainy day, but, thanks to new research from A*STAR, those who are so inclined now have what...
View ArticleFlow phenomena on solid surfaces
Physicists from Saarland University and the ESPCI in Paris have shown how liquids on solid surfaces can be made to slide over the surface a bit like a bobsleigh on ice. The key is to apply a coating at...
View ArticleFluid dynamics model accurately predicts how bubbles impact on solid surfaces
Bubbles are an essential part of many industrial applications including foam formation, water purification, and oil and gas extraction. To understand the effects of bubbles in these systems, A*STAR...
View ArticleHop, skip and a jump: Researchers reveal molecular search patterns
Like an albatross scanning for pods of squid in a vast ocean, molecules on solid surfaces move in an intermittent search pattern that provides maximum efficiency, according to new research from the...
View ArticleWhat is the surface of Neptune like?
As a gas giant (or ice giant), Neptune has no solid surface. In fact, the blue-green disc we have all seen in photographs over the years is actually a bit of an illusion. What we see is actually the...
View ArticlePhysicists generate ocean vortices in a glass of water
Scientists from a number of Russian universities, including MIPT, have studied previously neglected phenomena and determined the cause of liquid vortex flow formed by surface waves. The results of the...
View ArticleResearchers employ novel approach to assemble peptoids on a solid surface
Nature exquisitely assembles proteins and peptides into highly ordered functional materials, such as those critical for bone formation. These natural materials inspire researchers to innovate...
View ArticleNew method of studying environmental toxins
In 1986, Gordon Brown used SLAC's Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) to visualize something no one had ever seen before: the exact way that atoms bond to a solid surface. The work...
View ArticleNew theory describes liquid droplet behavior on solid surfaces
Japanese researchers have succeeded in deriving a theoretical formula that quantitatively predicts the wetting and spreading behavior of droplets that collide with the flat surface of a solid material....
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