Tunable Wetting at the Nanoscale:

Atomic Scale Patterning, Little chemistry, and Electric Field

                                                                    Prof. Alenka Luzar, Dept. of Chemistry, VCU, USA

As accessible experimental length scales become shorter, the modification of interfacial properties of water due to nanopatterned surface topography, functionalization, or electric field, must come to grips with novel effects existing at the nanoscale. The lecture will review our recent theoretical and molecular simulation works that predict and elucidate changes in hydration and water-mediated interactions in response to surface texture or to nanoelectrowetting. Examples will range from nanopatterning on synthetic and biological surfaces, to dynamics of the Janus interface, to ordering of nanoparticles in dispersion.  Our findings support a variety of applications, from the design of nanomaterials with tailored hydration, to nanofluidics and nano-devices with water-mediated actuation