We apply the capillary wave method, based on measurements of fluctuations in a ribbon-like interfacial geometry, to determine the solid-liquid interfacial free energy for both polytypes of ice I and the recently proposed ice 0 within a mono-atomic model of water. We discuss various choices for the molecular order parameter, which distinguishes solid from liquid, and demonstrate the influence of...

Motivated by recent experiments, the isotropic-nematic phase transition in chromonic liquid crystals is studied. As temperature decreases, nematic nuclei nucleate, grow, and coalesce, giving rise to tactoid microstructures in an isotropic liquid. These tactoids produce topological defects at domain junctions (disclinations in the bulk or point defects on the surface). We simulate such tactoid e...

In this paper we analyze the effects of the following phenomena associated with the thermocapillary migration of a drop. The first is the influence of Newtonian surface rheology of the interface and the second is that of the energy changes associated with stretching and shrinkage of the interfacial area elements, when the drop is in motion. The former occurs because of dissipative processes in ...

The microstructure and interfacial fracture energy of silicon nitride/boron nitride fibrous monoliths, GBN, were determined as a function of starting silicon nitride composition and temperature using the method described by Charalambides. The glassy phase created by the sintering aids added to the silicon nitride cells was shown to migrate into the boron nitride cell boundaries during hot-press...

We present the first set of results measuring the change in interfacial free energy and surface stress for Au(111) electrodes in an electrolyte containing a nonspecifically adsorbing anion and compare this behavior to that in an electrolyte containing an anion known to undergo specific adsorption. Generally, we find that the surface stress is more sensitive to changes in electrode potential and...

The adhesion of supported polymer thin fi lms is predominantly infl uenced by the substrate-fi lm interfacial properties. Utilizing steered molecular dynamics simulations, here we uncover that the cohesive noncovalent forces between polymer chains in the fi lm also have a signifi cant effect on the adhesive properties of supported fi lm. We demonstrate that weaker interchain interactions, all e...

The electron dynamics in a TiO(2)/alizarin based dye-sensitized solar cell is studied by a means of ab initio nonadiabatic molecular dynamics. The effects of surface terminations and vacancy defects on photoexcited interfacial electron transfer (ET) and energy relaxation of injected electrons are examined in detail. In particular, we consider three plausible TiO(2) surface terminations which ar...

At the triple point of a repulsive screened Coulomb system, a fcc crystal, a bcc crystal, and a fluid phase coexist. At their intersection, these three phases form a liquid groove, the triple junction. Using confocal microscopy, we resolve the triple junction on a single-particle level in a model system of charged PMMA colloids in a nonpolar solvent. The groove is found to be extremely deep and...

Infrared-visible sum frequency generation spectroscopy (SFG) was used to measure the interfacial concentrations of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/polystyrene (PS) blends next to a sapphire substrate. The acid-base interactions of carbonyl groups of PMMA with the hydroxyl groups on the sapphire drive the interfacial segregation of PMMA next to the sapphire substrate. Using the shift of sapphir...