A giant leap for nanodroplets
http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/9/9/13/1
22 September 2005
Physicists in Germany have made gold nanodroplets "jump" by
illuminating them with a laser. The work could lead to self-cleaning
surfaces and improvements in the way that fertilisers and pesticides
are spread (Science 309 2043).
When small droplets hit a solid surface they can either stick to it or
bounce off it. In some applications, such as ink-jet printing and crop
spraying, it is important that the droplets stick to the surface,
whereas in others, such as the development of self-cleaning and
water-repellent surfaces, the droplets should bounce away.
Johannes Boneberg of the University of Konstanz and colleagues in
Konstanz, Munich and Freiburg used colloidal lithography to make
triangular gold structures about 100 nanometres across on a graphite
surface. The German team then illuminated the nanostructures with a
laser pulse with a duration of a few nanoseconds.
See: http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/9/9/13/1
.
|
