Nano-bubbles

Nanobubbles are nanoscale gas-containing cavities on the liquid-solid surfaces (surface nanobubbles) or in the bulk aqueous solutions (bulk nanobubbles). These novel nanoscale bubbles exhibit a lot of unusual properties (e.g. extreme stability, abnormal contact angle) which challenge our understanding of the bubble behaviors at nanoscales.

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Nano-fluidics

The field of nanofluidics explores the transport of fluids and ionic species at the nanometric scales. Interfaces often paly a crucial role at nanoscales. We are intersted in a phenomenon called phoretic transport, which represents the motion of colloids/molecules in fluids and the fluid flow near solid surfaces driven by some interfacial forces due to a electric field, a concentration gradient or a temperature gradient (i.e. electro-/diffusio-/thermo-phoresis and electro-/diffusio-/thermo-osmosis). The phoretic transport processes offer important advantages in fields as diverse as micro-/nano-fluidics, colloid science and separations because of the controllable processes may be achieved through surface structure and chemistry.

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Nano-Assembly

Nano-assembly describes the processes by which nanoscale individual units come together to form organized structures, mediated by individual particle interactions or globally applied external forces such as electric/magnetic fields or fluid flows. Understanding self-assembly allows us to fabricate materials through a bottom–up approach, which provide a precise control on the structures to achieve desired properties.

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Selected Outcomes

文章/专著 Publications/Books
会议/报告 Conferences/Talks

研究成果在Nat. Commun.,Phys. Rev. Lett., Adv. Mater., Angew. Chem.,ACS Nano, Adv. Funct. Mater., J. Membr. Sci., J. Chem. Phys.等期刊发表SCI论文60余篇，详见Google Scholar和Researchgate.

We have published 60+ papers in well-known international journals including Nat. Commun.,Phys. Rev. Lett., Adv. Mater., Angew. Chem.,ACS Nano, Adv. Funct. Mater., J. Membr. Sci., J. Chem. Phys., etc. See the full list at Google Scholar and Researchgate.

Pinning leads to Stable Surface nanobubbles

For the first time, we proposed and proved that the contact line pinning effect on heterogeous substrates can lead to thermodymaically stable surface nanobubbles.
J. Chem. Phys. 2013, 138 (1), 014706.

Pinning causes new bubble-substrate relationships

We showed that the contact angles of pinned surface nanobubble are independent of substrate chemistry. Pinning force were defined.
J. Chem. Phys. 2014, 140 (5), 054705.

Pinned stable surface nanobubbles need supersatruation

We confirmed that stabilizing surface nanobubbles require both the contact line pinning and some proper gas or heat supersaturations in the solution.
J. Chem. Phys. 2014, 141 (13), 134702.

Pressure gradient fails for microscoapic Marangoni flow

We found that microscopic Marangoni flows at the interface cannot be predicted based on pressure gradients, while the chemical potential gradient can.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 2017, 119 (22), 224502.

Charges control agglomeration of chiral fibers

We concluded that the effective charge on the fibers dictates the agglomeration process and that the final geometry of the agglomerated fibers is marked by crossed nodes.
Cell Reports Phys. Sci. 2020, 1 (8), 100148.

EDL Polarizability makes vertial assembly of nanorods

We concluded that the induced electric dipole in EPD assembly of nanorods is dominated by the polarizability of the interfacial electric double layer.
Adv. Funct. Mater. 2021, 31 (6), 2006753.

Diffusio-osmosis causes low methanol permeability in COF

We found that the diffusio-osmotic effect arising from the charged hyrophilic nanochannels can lead to a low and nearly constant methanol permeability in the COF membranes.
J. Memb. Sci. 2022, 645, 120186.

Nanoscale surface properties control assembled results

We revealed that the interplay between nanoparticle (NP) faceting, ligand shell structure, and substrate–NP interactions contronl the structure of assembled superlattices.
Adv. Mater. 2022, 34 (20), 2109093.

Surface charges enable efficient ion exclusion

We proposed several mechanisms associated with the microscopic electrostatic interfactions to explain the efficient ion exlusion observed in charged COF membranes with large nanochannels.
ACS Nano 2022, 16 (8), 11781–11791.

Driving forces for chirality propagation in assemblies

We developed a simple model system that can fully characterize the thermodynamic forces that drive chiral assembly behaviours in membranes formed by small rod-like colloids
Nanoscale 2022, 14, 16837–16844.

Hydrophobic chain engineering for antifouling surfaces

An amphiphilic surface consisting of hydrophilic phytic acid and hydrophobic C6 perfluorocarboxylic acids shows great antifouling properties due to high surface hydration capacity.
Nat. Commun. 2022, 13, 7334.

Ultrafast single lithium-ion transport in COF channels

The COF channels functionalized with -PO32- and -O groups enable ultrafast single lithium-ion transport, as these groups create high-speed migration pathways for Li+.
Adv. Mater. 2024, 36 (52), 2413022.

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