Dr. S.J.A. De Beer and Prof.Dr. F.G. Mugele receive OTP grant from NWO-TTWSissi de Beer (Sustainable Polymer Chemistry) and Frieder Mugele (Physics of Complex Fluids) started a new project financed from NWO TTW Open Technology Program to study the microscopic mechanisms of grease lubrications in bearings and to explore novel concepts of Advanced Grease Lubrication using functional polymer surfaces.
The grant of approximately 1mioEUR will involve 3 PhD students.Read more
New article published: Absence of anomalous underscreening in highly concentrated aqueous electrolytes confined between smooth silica surfacesRecent surface forces apparatus experiments that measured the forces between two mica surfaces and a series of subsequent theoretical studies suggest the occurrence of universal underscreening in highly concentrated electrolyte solutions. We performed a set of systematic Atomic Force Spectroscopy measurements for aqueous salt solutions in a concentration range from 1 mM to 5 M using chloride salts of various alkali metals as well as mixed concentrated salt solutions (involving both mono- and divalent cations and anions), that mimic concentrated brines typically encountered in geological formations. Experiments were carried out using flat substrates and submicrometer-sized colloidal probes made of smooth oxidized silicon immersed in salt solutions at pH values of 6 and 9 and temperatures of 25 °C and 45 °C. While strong repulsive forces were observed for the smallest tip-sample separations, none of the conditions explored displayed any indication of anomalous long range electrostatic forces as reported for mica surfaces. Instead, forces are universally dominated by attractive van der Waals interactions at tip-sample separations of ≈2 nm and beyond for salt concentrations of 1 M and higher. Complementary calculations based on classical density functional theory for the primitive model support these experimental observations and display a consistent decrease in screening length with increasing ion concentration.Read more
Dr. S.J.A. De Beer and Prof.Dr. F.G. Mugele receive OTP grant from NWO-TTW
New article published: Absence of anomalous underscreening in highly concentrated aqueous electrolytes confined between smooth silica surfaces
Newly granted NWO-TTW project
New PhD vacancy: CAPTURE, STORAGE AND MINERALIZATION OF CO2 IN PARTICLE SUSPENSIONS
Congratulations Dr. Sachin Nair!
Congratulations Dr. Beybin Ilhan!!
New article published: Wetting ridge assisted programmed magnetic actuation of droplets on ferrofluid-infused surface
New article published: Interlayer Cation-Controlled Adsorption of Carbon Dioxide in Anhydrous Montmorillonite Clay
Executive Board receives call for climate action
New article published: Charging composite silicon oxide-fluoropolymer electrets by electrowetting: new paper published in Advanced Functional Materials
Congratulations Dr. Davood Baratian
Congratulations Dr. Aram Klaassen
