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Complex fluids

Spread the word about nanofluids

Nature volume 423, pages 131–132 (2003)Cite this article

Liquid spreads and wets a surface, but wetting behaviour changes if the liquid contains nanoparticles. New experiments point to an explanation and a way to create effective detergents for cleaning oil from a surface.

The wetting of solid surfaces by liquids is usually described in terms of the surface and interfacial tensions at the 'three-phase contact line' — where solid surface, liquid and the air above meet. But this simple situation changes drastically when the liquid is a dispersion of nanoparticles. On page 156 of this issue, Darsh Wasan and Alex Nikolov1 relate experiments and theoretical modelling that explain why this is. Ordering of the nanoparticles, they say, creates extra, osmotic pressure — an effect that could be exploited in the detergents used to clean up after oil spills.

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Figure 1: Wet cleaning.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Lehigh University, 111 Research Drive, Iacocca Hall, Bethlehem, 18015, Pennsylvania, USA

    Manoj K. Chaudhury

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  1. Manoj K. Chaudhury
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Correspondence to Manoj K. Chaudhury.

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Chaudhury, M. Spread the word about nanofluids. Nature 423, 131–132 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/423131a

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/423131a

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