Nanoparticles alter wetting dynamics,Prof. Chaudhury writes in Nature

Liquids containing nanoparticles exhibit different wetting behaviors from liquids without the tiny particles, and might lead the way to detergents that more effectively clean oil from surfaces, Manoj Chaudhury, professor of chemical engineering, wrote recently in Nature magazine.

In his article, which was titled "Spread the word about nanofluids," Chaudhury said the wetting of solid surfaces by liquids, which is associated with surface and interfacial tensions, "changes drastically when the liquid is a dispersion of nanoparticles."

Two researchers from the Illinois Institute of Technology investigated a dispersion of surfactant micelles measuring 5 nm in diameter and observed that wetting was "driven by the gradient of film tension - that is, the tension acting over the depth of the wetting edge," Chaudhury wrote.

"The[se] findings are of tremendous significance for many areas of research - from the interactions of liquid drops in complex fluids to the 'superwetting' of concentrated surfactant solutions on hydrophobic surfaces - as well as for applications such as the recovery of spilled oil," Chaudhury wrote.

Nature, a weekly published in Washington, D.C., has a circulation of 65,000. Chaudhury's article can be accessed here