Self-diffusion of interacting colloids far from equilibrium

Controlling the Placement of Spherical Nanoparticles in Electrically Driven Polymer Jets and its Application to Li-Ion Battery Anodes

Employing circumferentially uniform air flow through the sheath layer of the concentric coaxial nozzle, the gas-assisted electrospinning (GAES) utilizes both high electric field and controlled air flow to produce nanofibers. The ability to tailor the distribution of various nanofillers (1.85-12.92 vol% of spherical SiO₂ and Si nanoparticles) in a polyvinyl alcohol jet is demonstrated by varying airflow rates in GAES. The distribution of nanofillers is measured from transmission electron microscopy and is analyzed using an image processing technique to perform the dispersion area analysis and obtain the most probable separation between nanoparticles using fast Fourier transform (FFT). The analysis in this study indicates an additional 350% improvement in dispersion area with the application of high but controlled airflow, and a 75 percent decrease in separation between nanoparticles from the FFT. The experiments in this study are in good agreement with a coarse-grained MD simulation prediction for a polymer nanocomposite system subjected to extensional deformation. Lastly, utilizing the sheath layer air flow in production of Li-battery anode material, a 680 mAh g^-1 improvement is observed in capacity for nanofibers spun via GAES compared to ES at the same Si NP loading, which is associated with better dispersion of the electrochemically active nanoparticles.

Effects of shear and walls on the diffusion of colloids in microchannels

Colloidal suspensions flowing through microchannels were studied for the effects of both the shear flow and the proximity of walls on the particles' self-diffusion. Use of hydrostatic pressure to pump micron-sized silica spheres dispersed in water-glycerol mixture through poly(dimethylsiloxane) channels with a cross section of 30×24μm(2), allowed variation in the local Peclet number (Pe) from 0.01 to 50. To obtain the diffusion coefficients, image-time series from a confocal scanning laser microscope were analyzed with a method that, after finding particle trajectories, subtracts the instantaneous advective displacements and subsequently measures the slopes of the mean squared displacement in the flow (x) and shear (y) directions. For dilute suspensions, the thus obtained diffusion coefficients (D(x) and D(y)) are close to the free diffusion coefficient at all shear rates. In concentrated suspensions, a clear increase with the Peclet number (for Pe > 10) is found, that is stronger for D(x) than for D(y). This effect of shear-induced collisions is counteracted by the contribution of walls, which cause a strong local reduction in D(x) and D(y).

Enhancing rotational diffusion using oscillatory shear

Taylor dispersion--shear-induced enhancement of translational diffusion--is an important phenomenon with applications ranging from pharmacology to geology. Through experiments and simulations, we show that rotational diffusion is also enhanced for anisotropic particles in oscillatory shear. This enhancement arises from variations in the particle's rotation (Jeffery orbit) and depends on the strain amplitude, rate, and particle aspect ratio in a manner that is distinct from the translational diffusion. This separate tunability of translational and rotational diffusion opens the door to new techniques for controlling positions and orientations of suspended anisotropic colloids.

Electro-kinetics of charged-sphere suspensions explored by integral low-angle super-heterodyne laser Doppler velocimetry

We investigated the flow behaviour of colloidal charged-sphere suspensions using a newly designed integral low-angle super-heterodyne laser Doppler velocimetry instrument, which combines the advantages of several previous approaches. Sample conditions ranged from strong electrostatic interactions with pronounced short-range order to individual particles with no spatial correlations. The obtained power spectra correspond to diffusion broadened velocity distributions across the complete sample cross section. The excellent performance of the instrument is highlighted in detail by the example of electro-kinetic flow of suspensions in a closed cell of a rectangular cross section. We demonstrate the excellent performance of our approach with the example of electro-phoretic-electro-osmotic experiments, showing that a comprehensive flow characterization becomes possible by analysing the measured electro-kinetic mobilities, the flow-profile, an effective diffusion coefficient and the integrated scattering density. We briefly discuss present limitations, possible extensions and interesting applications in other fields.

Assembly of vorticity-aligned hard-sphere colloidal strings in a simple shear flow

Colloidal suspensions self-assemble into equilibrium structures ranging from face- and body-centered cubic crystals to binary ionic crystals, and even kagome lattices. When driven out of equilibrium by hydrodynamic interactions, even more diverse structures can be accessed. However, mechanisms underlying out-of-equilibrium assembly are much less understood, though such processes are clearly relevant in many natural and industrial systems. Even in the simple case of hard-sphere colloidal particles under shear, there are conflicting predictions about whether particles link up into string-like structures along the shear flow direction. Here, using confocal microscopy, we measure the shear-induced suspension structure. Surprisingly, rather than flow-aligned strings, we observe log-rolling strings of particles normal to the plane of shear. By employing Stokesian dynamics simulations, we address the mechanism leading to this out-of-equilibrium structure and show that it emerges from a delicate balance between hydrodynamic and interparticle interactions. These results demonstrate a method for assembling large-scale particle structures using shear flows.

Effective temperatures of a driven, strongly anisotropic Brownian system

We use Brownian dynamics computer simulations of a moderately dense colloidal system undergoing steady shear flow to investigate the uniqueness of the so-called effective temperature. We compare effective temperatures calculated from the fluctuation-dissipation ratios and from the linear response to a static, long-wavelength, external perturbation along two directions: the shear gradient direction and the vorticity direction. At high shear rates, when the system is strongly anisotropic, the fluctuation-dissipation-ratio-derived effective temperatures are approximately wave-vector independent, but the temperatures along the gradient direction are somewhat higher than those along the vorticity direction. The temperatures derived from the static linear response show the same dependence on the direction as those derived from the fluctuation-dissipation ratio. However, the former and the latter temperatures are different. Our results suggest that the presently used formulas for effective temperatures may not be applicable for strongly anisotropic, driven systems.

Shear-induced diffusion of platelike particles in microchannels

We exploit the recent developments of microfluidic technologies to investigate the collective shear-induced diffusion in suspensions of micron-sized particles. Whereas spherical particles do not diffuse on the time scale of our experiments, the results with platelike clay particles show a strong cross-stream shear-induced diffusivity at low volume fraction (phi{0}<or=0.01). Moreover, we find a linear dependence of the collective diffusion coefficient with the average shear rate (in the range 10;{2}-10;{4} s;{-1}) and the particle concentration. These data are in good agreement with previous experimental and theoretical results for spheres when rescaled with the particle number density.

Three-dimensional imaging of colloidal glasses under steady shear

Using fast confocal microscopy we image the three-dimensional dynamics of particles in a yielded hard-sphere colloidal glass under steady shear. The structural relaxation, observed in regions with uniform shear, is nearly isotropic but is distinctly different from that of quiescent metastable colloidal fluids. The inverse relaxation time tau(alpha)(-1) and diffusion constant D, as functions of the local shear rate gamma*, show marked shear thinning with tau(alpha)(-1) proportional to D proportional to gamma*(0.8) over more than two decades in gamma*. In contrast, the global rheology of the system displays Herschel-Bulkley behavior. We discuss the possible role of large scale shear localization and other mechanisms in generating this difference.

Structural relaxation and rheological response of a driven amorphous system

The interplay between the structural relaxation and the rheological response of a simple amorphous system {a 80:20 binary Lennard-Jones mixture [W. Kob and H. C. Andersen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 1376 (1994)]} is studied via molecular dynamics simulations. In the quiescent state, the model is well known for its sluggish dynamics and a two step relaxation of correlation functions at low temperatures. An ideal glass transition temperature of Tc=0.435 has been identified in the previous studies via the analysis of the system's dynamics in the framework of the mode coupling theory of the glass transition [W. Kob and H. C. Andersen, Phys. Rev. E 51, 4626 (1995)]. In the present work, we focus on the question whether a signature of this ideal glass transition can also be found in the case where the system's dynamics is driven by a shear motion. Indeed, the following distinction in the structural relaxation is found: In the supercooled state, the structural relaxation is dominated by the shear at relatively high shear rates gamma, whereas at sufficiently low gamma the (shear-independent) equilibrium relaxation is recovered. In contrast to this, the structural relaxation of a glass is always driven by shear. This distinct behavior of the correlation functions is also reflected in the rheological response. In the supercooled state, the shear viscosity eta decreases with increasing shear rate (shear thinning) at high shear rates, but then converges toward a constant as the gamma is decreased below a (temperature-dependent) threshold value. Below Tc, on the other hand, the shear viscosity grows as eta proportional, etax 1/gamma, suggesting a divergence at gamma=0. Thus, within the accessible observation time window, a transition toward a nonergodic state seems to occur in the driven glass as the driving force approaches zero. As to the flow curves (stress versus shear rate), a plateau forms at low shear rates in the glassy phase. A consequence of this stress plateau for Poiseuille-type flows is demonstrated.

Dynamics and structure in complex liquids under shear explored by neutron scattering

It is well established that the structural order of macromolecules can be affected by the application of shear. For example, triblock copolymers in aqueous solutions are known to aggregate for high concentrations. For increasing temperature the polymer micelles crystallize and offer a model system for the investigation of percolation and crystallization. The crystalline phases rearrange under shear. We correlate the structural assemblages of polymer micelles to the microscopic dynamics of the polymer monomers as well as to the solvent molecules at rest and under shear. We find the monomer dynamics affected by the different arrangements of the polymer micelles in aqueous solutions. For pronounced structural ordering we report on the monomer diffusion to become anisotropic under shear, with the diffusive mode in the direction of the shear gradient being slowed down with respect to that in the direction of the flow.

Rearrangements in hard-sphere glasses under oscillatory shear strain

We investigate particle rearrangements in colloidal glasses subjected to oscillatory shear strain by the technique of light scattering (LS) echo. LS echo directly follows the motion of the particles through peaks (echoes) in the intensity autocorrelation function; the height of the peak measures the reversible motion in the sample. Polydisperse hard-sphere poly-methylmethacrylate particles were used to avoid crystallization under shear. The yielding behavior is monitored through irreversible particle rearrangements at several volume fractions in the glass phase region. At high volume fractions the glasses are found to yield at strains as high as 15% while the irreversible rearrangements have a more gradual onset with strain for low volume fraction glasses. The behavior of high order echoes at long times is related to the effects of shear on the frozen-in fluctuations of the glass.

Stokes-Einstein-like relation for athermal systems and glasses under shear

Finite temperature and athermal simulations are used to determine the viscosity mu and diffusivity D for systems undergoing shear flow at shear rate gamma and temperature T. Athermal simulations show that mu approximately gamma(-1) and D approximately gamma due to strain-activated relaxations, leading to an athermal Stokes-Einstein-like relation muD=C(ASE). Finite temperature simulations show that at high T the Stokes-Einstein relation muD=C(SE)T is followed, and as T decreases muD diverges in the Newtonian limit, but muD reaches the constant value C(ASE) for finite gamma. These different behaviors of muD suggest that particle dynamics are fundamentally different as jamming is approached by reducing a driving force as opposed to cooling, and that dynamic heterogeneities play a different role in shear-induced dynamics.