The role of intermolecular forces in modern science is becoming ever more prominent, as increasing numbers of chemists and physicists turn to the investigation of condensed matter phenomena and biological systems. Although thee subject is hardly novel, the state of our knowledge of intermolecular forces and their associated potential energy surfaces is, nevertheless, remarkably primitive. For e...

The instability and dewetting of bounded liquid films at the nanoscale are shown to strongly depend on thermal fluctuations. In this work, fluctuation-driven a chemically heterogeneous substrate is investigated both by stochastic lubrication equation (SLE), which models fluctuations with white noise, molecular dynamics (MD). Linear analysis for SLE, considering slip intermolecular forces substr...

Amphiphilic molecules can form closed-shell structures that are determined by competing attractive and repulsive forces. Since supramolecular shape has its roots in intermolecular interactions, the interplay of electrostatic, hydrophobic, and steric forces can generate nonspherical structures. Here we show that anionic and cationic amphiphiles of unequal charge can coassemble into small buckled...

The contact phase of an assembly task involving micro and nano objects is complicated by the presence of surface and intermolecular forces such as electrostatic, surface-tension and Van der Waals forces. Assembly strategies must account for the presence of these forces in order to guarantee successful repeatable micro and nanoassemblies with high precision. A detailed model for this electrostat...

It was found that in an osteoporotic bone the fraction of nanosized pores decreases, the mineral phase amorphizes, hydrated shells around mineralized particles of the bone matrix thicken, and adhesion forces increase. This contributes to the formation of water clusters similar to bulk water clusters compared to the healthy bone tissue and leads to the accumulation of more viscous liquid with in...

Liquids in contact with solids are submitted to intermolecular forces inferring density gradients at the walls. The van der Waals forces make liquid heterogeneous, the stress tensor is not any more spherical as in homogeneous bulks and it is possible to obtain stable thin liquid films wetting vertical walls up to altitudes that incompressible fluid models are not forecasting. Application to mic...

The spatial distribution of intermolecular forces governs macromolecular interactions. The atomic force microscope, a relatively new tool for investigating interaction forces between nanometer-scale objects, can be used to produce spatially resolved maps of the surface or material properties of a sample; these include charge density, adhesion and stiffness, as well as the force required to brea...

Intermolecular bonds are weak compared to covalent bonds, but they strong enough influence the properties of large molecular systems. In this work, we investigate how light-matter coupling inside an optical cavity can modify these intermolecular forces. We perform a detailed comparison between currently available ab initio electron-photon methodologies. The electromagnetic field modulate ground...