We report that a variety of ternary particle/liquid/liquid mixtures heavily aggregate or separate completely if (1) the particles are fully or almost fully wetted by one fluid, and (2) if the wetting fluid volume fraction is comparable to the particle volume fraction. Aggregation and separation do not happen if the particles are partially wetted by both fluids, in which case Pickering emulsions...

A multiscale coarse-graining model for ionic liquids has been extended to investigate the unique aggregation of cations in ionic liquids through computer simulation. It has been found that, with sufficiently long side chains, the tail groups of cations aggregate to form spatially heterogeneous domains, while headgroups of the cations and the anions distribute as uniformly as possible. This is u...

Hepatocyte cell aggregation and adhesion to HAp nanocrystals covered with SU-8 polymer micropatterns by nano/microfabrication techniques is demonstrated. The surface roughness and wettability of the HAp nanocrystals are significantly different from those of the SU-8 polymer. QCM-D and microscopic observation clearly reveal that the cells realize the surface properties to form aggregation and pr...

A population balance model for batch suspension polymerization of vinyl chloride is presented. Break up into two equal volumes of droplets, binary aggregation and random mass exchanges between the colliding droplets are assumed, while the kinetic data of vinyl chloride polymerization are taken from the literature. The model and the process are analyzed by simulation applying a novel Monte Carlo...

There is a growing belief that the complex dynamics of seismicity can be better understood by studying the collective behavior of numerous lithosphere instability sources rather than focusing on the details of each of them. Classical site-percolation is a simple and tractable model which exhibits such important general features of complex systems as criticality and phase transitions of second k...

A substoichiometric enantioselective version of the extremely fast nucleophilic addition of Alk-Li to RCHO is made possible thanks to a thorough analysis of the aggregation phenomena involved in the reaction: calculated quantities of LiCl must be added to the medium at the right time to keep the catalytic cycle running.