Equilibrium Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics simulations have been performed in the canonical ensemble to investigate the structural properties of liquid water and ice Ih (hexagonal ice) at 298 and 273 K, respectively, using a state-of-the-art non-local correlation functional, whilst size effects have been examined explicitly in the case of liquid water. This has led to improved agreement wi...

A new method for introducing enzymes into cellulosic matrixes which can be formed into membranes, films, or beads has been developed using a cellulose-in-ionic-liquid dissolution and regeneration process. Initial results on the formation of thin cellulose films incorporating dispersed laccase indicate that active enzyme-encapsulated films can be prepared using this methodology and that precoati...

At a certain temperature Tn (nematic temperature) a mixture of two cholesteric components which separately form helices of opposite senses behaves like a nematic. An inversion of the helical structure occurs when passing Tn, from a right-handed to a left-handed structure or vice versa. In the temperature-pressure space such compensated mixtures therefore will exhibit an inversion line which — o...

We analyze numerically the optical response and effective macroscopic parameters of fishnet metamaterials infiltrated with a nematic liquid crystal. We show that even a small amount of liquid crystal can provide tuning of the structures due to reorientation of the liquid crystal director. This enables switchable optical metamaterials, where the refractive index can be switched from positive to ...

Dispersion stability of nanoparticles in the liquid media is of great importance to the utilization in practice. This study aims to investigate the effects of mechanical dispersion method on the dispersibility of functionalized TiO2 nanoparticles in the transformer oil. Dispersion methods, including stirring, ultrasonic bath, and probe processes, were systematically tested to verify their versa...

This work examines the influences of relative dispersion (the ratio of the standard deviation to the mean radius of the cloud droplet size distribution) on cloud albedo and cloud radiative forcing, derives an analytical formulation that accounts explicitly for the contribution from droplet concentration and relative dispersion, and presents a new approach to parameterize relative dispersion in ...