Thermoelectricity in Confined Liquid Electrolytes.

The electric field in an extended phase of a liquid electrolyte exposed to a temperature gradient is attributed to different thermophoretic mobilities of the ion species. As shown herein, such Soret-type ion thermodiffusion is not required to induce thermoelectricity even in the simplest electrolyte if it is confined between charged walls. The space charge of the electric double layer leads to selective ion diffusion driven by a temperature-dependent electrophoretic ion mobility, which-for narrow channels-may cause thermovoltages larger in magnitude than for the classical Soret equilibrium.

Coupled self-organization: thermal interaction between two liquid films undergoing long-wavelength instabilities.

The effects of thermal coupling between two thin liquid layers separated by a gas layer are discussed. The liquid layers undergo long-wavelength instabilities driven by gravitational and thermocapillary stresses. To study the dynamics, both a linear stability analysis and a full numerical solution of the thin-film equations are performed.

Protein spheres prepared by drop jet freeze drying.

In spray freeze drying (SFD) solutions are frozen by spraying into a very cold environment and subsequently dried by sublimation. In contrast to conventional freeze drying, spray freeze drying has the possibility to produce flowable lyophilizates which offers a variety of new pharmaceutical applications. Here, a drop jet nozzle is proposed as liquid dispenser that is able to produce droplets with a very narrow size distribution compared to standard methods.

Formation of nanopillar arrays in ultrathin viscous films: the critical role of thermocapillary stresses.

Experiments by several groups during the past decade have shown that a molten polymer nanofilm subject to a large transverse thermal gradient undergoes spontaneous formation of periodic nanopillar arrays. The prevailing explanation is that coherent reflections of acoustic phonons within the film cause a periodic modulation of the radiation pressure which enhances pillar growth. By exploring a deformational instability of particular relevance to nanofilms, we demonstrate that thermocapillary forces play a crucial role in the formation process.