Issue 12, 2014

Sharpening the surface of magnetic paranematic droplets

Abstract

In a non-uniform magnetic field, the droplets of colloids of nickel nanorods and nanobeads aggregate to form a cusp at the droplet surface not deforming the entire droplet shape. When the field is removed, nanorods diffuse away and the cusp disappears. Spherical particles can form cusps in a similar way, but they stay aggregated after the release of the field; finally, the aggregates settle down to the bottom of the drop. The X-ray phase contrast imaging reveals that nanorods in the cusps stay parallel to each other without visible spatial order of their centers of mass. The formation of cusps can be explained with a model that includes magnetostatic and surface tension forces. The discovered possibility of controlled assembly and quenching of nanorod orientation under the cusped liquid surface offers vast opportunities for alignment of carbon nanotubes, nanowires and nanoscrolls, prior to spinning them into superstrong and multifunctional fibers. Magnetostatic and electrostatic analogies suggest that a similar ideal alignment can be achieved with the rod-like dipoles subject to a strong electric field.

Graphical abstract: Sharpening the surface of magnetic paranematic droplets

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
15 Oct 2013
Accepted
27 Nov 2013
First published
28 Nov 2013

Soft Matter, 2014,10, 1917-1923

Sharpening the surface of magnetic paranematic droplets

A. Tokarev, W. Lee, I. Sevonkaev, D. Goia and K. G. Kornev, Soft Matter, 2014, 10, 1917 DOI: 10.1039/C3SM52655K

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