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A Robust Synthesis of Fluorosurfactants with Tunable Functions via a Two-Step Reaction
Authors:
Jiyuan Yao,
Shijian Huang,
Shuting Xie,
Zhenping Liu,
Yueming Deng,
Luca Carnevale,
Mingliang Jin,
Loes I. Segerink,
Da Wang,
Lingling Shui,
Sergii Pud
Abstract:
Fluorosurfactant-stabilized microdroplets hold significant promise for a wide range of applications, owing to their biological and chemical inertness. However, conventional synthetic routes for fluorosurfactants typically require multiple reaction steps and stringent conditions, such as high temperatures and anaerobic environments. This complexity poses a significant limitation to the development…
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Fluorosurfactant-stabilized microdroplets hold significant promise for a wide range of applications, owing to their biological and chemical inertness. However, conventional synthetic routes for fluorosurfactants typically require multiple reaction steps and stringent conditions, such as high temperatures and anaerobic environments. This complexity poses a significant limitation to the development of fluorosurfactant synthesis and their subsequent applications in droplet-based systems. In this work, we present a robust two-step synthesis of fluorosurfactants with tunable functionalities. Microdroplets stabilized by these fluorosurfactants exhibit enhanced stability and biocompatibility. Notably, these fluorosurfactants facilitate the formation of nanodroplets that efficiently transport and concentrate fluorophores with high selectivity. Furthermore, we demonstrate that colloidal self-assemblies with tunable morphologies can be engineered by modulating interactions between the fluorosurfactants and colloidal particles. Our synthetic approach provides a strategy for the rapid production of functional fluorosurfactants under mild conditions, enabling droplet-based microfluidic techniques with applications in biology and material science.
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Submitted 2 May, 2025;
originally announced May 2025.
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Engineering Morphologies of Metal-Based Colloidal Assemblies via Colloid Jamming at Liquid-Liquid Interfaces
Authors:
Jiyuan Yao,
Shuting Xie,
Shijian Huang,
Weilong Xu,
Jiaqin Li,
Zhenping Liu,
Mingliang Jin,
Loes I. Segerink,
Lingling Shui,
Sergii Pud
Abstract:
Self-assemblies, structured via nanoparticles, show promise as materials for advanced applications, like photonic devices, electrochemical energy storage units and catalysis support. Despite observing diverse morphologies, a comprehensive understanding of the formation mechanism remains elusive. In this work, we show that the coordination interaction between metal-based sulfide nanoparticles (MS N…
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Self-assemblies, structured via nanoparticles, show promise as materials for advanced applications, like photonic devices, electrochemical energy storage units and catalysis support. Despite observing diverse morphologies, a comprehensive understanding of the formation mechanism remains elusive. In this work, we show that the coordination interaction between metal-based sulfide nanoparticles (MS NPs) and the fluorosurfactants at the droplet interface influences the morphology during the evaporation-induced self-assembly facilitated by droplet microfluidics. Further investigation into fluorosurfactants with various chemical groups and MS NPs reveals that the strength of coordination interactions significantly influences assembly morphology. The interfacial interactions can be eliminated through coating a SiO2 layer on the metal-based colloid (M@SiO2 NPs). In addition, we demonstrate that the morphologies of the self-assemblies can be engineered via the coordination interactions between the MS NPs and fluorosurfactants, and by varying the concentrations of MS NPs. Utilizing these interfacial interactions, assemblies with core-shell and homogeneous distribution of binary nanoparticles were constructed. Our findings offer novel insights into the interfacial jamming of nanoparticles at the droplet interface through evaporation-induced self-assembly, and into the design of metal-based colloidal assemblies with diverse morphologies, crucial for developing novel functional assemblies for catalysis, plasmonic, and porous materials in a controlled manner.
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Submitted 13 May, 2025; v1 submitted 9 May, 2025;
originally announced May 2025.
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Polarity induced electronic and atomic reconstruction at NdNiO2/SrTiO3 interfaces
Authors:
Ri He,
Peiheng Jiang,
Yi Lu,
Yidao Song,
Mingxing Chen,
Mingliang Jin,
Lingling Shui,
Zhicheng Zhong
Abstract:
Superconductivity has recently been observed in Sr-doped NdNiO2 films grown on SrTiO3. Whether it is caused by or related to the interface remains an open question. To address this issue, we use density functional theory calculation and charge transfer self-consistent model to study the effects of polar discontinuity on the electronic and atomic reconstruction at the NdNiO2/SrTiO3 interface. We fi…
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Superconductivity has recently been observed in Sr-doped NdNiO2 films grown on SrTiO3. Whether it is caused by or related to the interface remains an open question. To address this issue, we use density functional theory calculation and charge transfer self-consistent model to study the effects of polar discontinuity on the electronic and atomic reconstruction at the NdNiO2/SrTiO3 interface. We find that sharp interface with pure electronic reconstruction only is energetically unfavorable, and atomic reconstruction is unavoidable. We further propose a possible interface configuration that contain residual apical oxygen. These oxygen atoms lead to hybrids of dz2 and dx2-y2 states at the Fermi level, which weaken the single-band feature and may be detrimental to superconductivity.
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Submitted 31 May, 2020;
originally announced June 2020.
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Thermodynamic model of twisted bilayer graphene: Configuration entropy matters
Authors:
Weidong Yan,
Langquan Shui,
Wengen Ouyang,
Ze Liu
Abstract:
Twisted bilayer materials have attracted tremendous attention due to their unique and novel properties. Here, we derive a thermodynamic model for twisted bilayer graphene (tBLG) within the framework of the classical statistical mechanics, based on which, the configuration entropy reflecting the number of micro-status in moire unit-cells, is directly derived from the Helmholtz free energy with a cl…
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Twisted bilayer materials have attracted tremendous attention due to their unique and novel properties. Here, we derive a thermodynamic model for twisted bilayer graphene (tBLG) within the framework of the classical statistical mechanics, based on which, the configuration entropy reflecting the number of micro-status in moire unit-cells, is directly derived from the Helmholtz free energy with a clear physical interpretation. More importantly, we show the configuration entropy of tBLG relative to the AB-stacked bilayer graphene is proportional to the logarithmic function of the ratio of moire period and the atomic lattice constant, which we found dominates the Helmholtz free energy of tBLG and can well explain experimental observations in superlubric contacts. Our work provides a theoretical foundation for studying moire effect of incommensurate contact interfaces and could facilitate twisting based applications such as superlubricity.
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Submitted 5 November, 2021; v1 submitted 13 August, 2019;
originally announced August 2019.