PlumX Metrics
Embed PlumX Metrics

Investigating water/oil interfaces with opto-thermophoresis

Nature Communications, ISSN: 2041-1723, Vol: 13, Issue: 1, Page: 3742
2022
  • 13
    Citations
  • 0
    Usage
  • 15
    Captures
  • 1
    Mentions
  • 0
    Social Media
Metric Options:   Counts1 Year3 Year

Metrics Details

Most Recent Blog

Investigating water/oil interfaces with opto-thermophoretic tweezers

Spontaneous charging of interfaces between water and hydrophobic media is a mysterious feature whose nature and origin - despite many efforts to explain them - are still not fully understood. Many spectroscopic results and interpretations along with computational work are not consistent with one another and a consensus on the nature and origin of interfacial charging has not been reached. A clear

Article Description

Charging of interfaces between water and hydrophobic media is a mysterious feature whose nature and origin have been under debate. Here, we investigate the fundamentals of the interfacial behaviors of water by employing opto-thermophoretic tweezers to study temperature-gradient-induced perturbation of dipole arrangement at water/oil interfaces. With surfactant-free perfluoropentane-in-water emulsions as a model interface, additional polar organic solvents are introduced to systematically modify the structural aspects of the interface. Through our experimental measurements on the thermophoretic behaviors of oil droplets under a light-generated temperature gradient, in combination with theoretical analysis, we propose that water molecules and mobile negative charges are present at the water/oil interfaces with specific dipole arrangement to hydrate oil droplets, and that this arrangement is highly susceptible to the thermal perturbation due to the mobility of the negative charges. These findings suggest a potential of opto-thermophoresis in probing aqueous interfaces and could enrich understanding of the interfacial behaviors of water.

Bibliographic Details

Kim, Youngsun; Ding, Hongru; Zheng, Yuebing

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Chemistry; Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; Physics and Astronomy

Provide Feedback

Have ideas for a new metric? Would you like to see something else here?Let us know