Experimental demonstration of negative refraction with 3D locally resonant acoustic metafluids.

Negative refraction of acoustic waves is demonstrated through underwater experiments conducted at ultrasonic frequencies on a 3D locally resonant acoustic metafluid made of soft porous silicone-rubber micro-beads suspended in a yield-stress fluid. By measuring the refracted angle of the acoustic beam transmitted through this metafluid shaped as a prism, we determine the acoustic index to water according to Snell's law. These experimental data are then compared with an excellent agreement to calculations performed in the framework of Multiple Scattering Theory showing that the emergence of negative refraction depends on the volume fraction [Formula: see text] of the resonant micro-beads.

Collapse and cavitation during the drying of water-saturated PDMS sponges with closed porosity.

In this paper, we study the drying of water-saturated porous polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomers with closed porosity in which the evaporation of water is possible only via the diffusion across PDMS. Starting from water/PDMS emulsions, we fabricate soft macroporous samples with different pore diameter distributions and average diameters ranging from 10 to 300 μm. In these materials, the drying may lead to either a collapsed state with low porosity or the cavitation and reopening of a fraction of the pores.

Tuning the sound speed in macroporous polymers with a hard or soft matrix.

In this paper, we investigate the factors affecting the sound speed in air-filled macroporous polymer materials at ultrasound frequencies. Due to the presence of large proportion of gas, these porous materials present high compressibility and, as a consequence, low sound speed which may fall down to values as low as 40 m s. Using an emulsion-templating method, we synthesize macroporous samples with similar porous structures but with three different matrices, i.

Soft porous silicone rubbers with ultra-low sound speeds in acoustic metamaterials.

Soft porous silicone rubbers are demonstrated to exhibit extremely low sound speeds of tens of m/s for these dense materials, even for low porosities of the order of a few percent. Our ultrasonic experiments show a sudden drop of the longitudinal sound speed with the porosity, while the transverse sound speed remains constant. For such porous elastomeric materials, we propose simple analytical expressions for these two sound speeds, derived in the framework of Kuster and Toksöz, revealing an excellent agreement between the theoretical predictions and the experimental results for both longitudinal and shear waves.

Binary and ternary recombination of H2D(+) and HD2(+) ions with electrons at 80 K.

The recombination of deuterated trihydrogen cations with electrons has been studied in afterglow plasmas containing mixtures of helium, argon, hydrogen and deuterium. By monitoring the fractional abundances of H3(+), H2D(+), HD2(+) and D3(+) as a function of the [D2]/[H2] ratio using infrared absorption observed in a cavity ring down absorption spectrometer (CRDS), it was possible to deduce effective recombination rate coefficients for H2D(+) and HD2(+) ions at a temperature of 80 K. From pressure dependences of the measured effective recombination rate coefficients the binary and the ternary recombination rate coefficients for both ions have been determined.

Tailoring of the porous structure of soft emulsion-templated polymer materials.

This paper discusses the formation of soft porous materials obtained by the polymerization of inverse water-in-silicone (polydimethylsiloxane, PDMS) emulsions. We show that the initial state of the emulsion has a strong impact on the porous structure and properties of the final material. We show that using a surfactant with different solubilities in the emulsion continuous phase (PDMS), it is possible to tune the interaction between emulsion droplets, which leads to materials with either interconnected or isolated pores.

Incorporation of negatively charged iron oxide nanoparticles in the shell of anionic surfactant-stabilized microbubbles: The effect of NaCl concentration.

We report on the key effect of NaCl for the stabilization of nanoparticle-decorated microbubbles coated by an anionic perfluoroalkylated phosphate C10F21(CH2)2OP(O)(OH)2 surfactant and negatively charged iron oxide nanoparticles. We show that hollow microspheres with shells of 100-200 nm in thickness can be stabilized even at high pH when a strong ionic force is required to screen the negative charges. Due to the more drastic conditions required to stabilize the hollow microspheres, they appear to be stable enough to be deposited on a surface and dried.

Super-elastic air/water interfacial films self-assembled from soluble surfactants.

We show that water-soluble monosodic salts of F-alkyl phosphates C(n)F(2n+1) (CH2)2OP(O)(OH)2, with n=8 and 10 (F8H2Phos and F10H2Phos) form Gibbs films with exceptionally high dilational viscoelastic modules E that reach ~900 mN m(-1) in the condensed phases. These E values are up to one order of magnitude larger than those recorded for phospholipid, protein and polymer films commonly considered as highly viscoelastic. F8H2Phos.

Hollow magnetic microspheres obtained by nanoparticle adsorption on surfactant stabilized microbubbles.

We report on the stabilization of nanoparticle-decorated microbubbles for long periods of time using a synergism between a soluble surfactant and nanoparticles. The soluble surfactant is the perfluoroalkyl phosphate C8F17(CH2)2OP(O)(OH)2 (labeled F8H2Phos) and the nanoparticles (NPs) are 20-25 nm cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4). The NP-F8H2Phos system has been studied by dynamic light scattering, dynamic magnetic susceptibility measurements and thermal gravimetric analysis.

pH-controlled microbubble shell formation and stabilization.

We report on microbubbles with a shell self-assembled from an anionic perfluoroalkylated surfactant, perfluorooctyl(ethyl)phosphate (F8H2Phos). Microbubbles were formed and effectively stabilized from aqueous solutions of F8H2Phos at pH 5.6-8.