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Abstract: Topological defects (TDs) appear almost unavoidably in continuous symmetry breaking phase transitions. The topological origin makes their key features independent of systems' microscopic details; therefore TDs display many universalities. Because of their strong impact on numerous material properties and their significant role in several technological applications it is of strong interest to find simple and robust mechanisms controlling the positioning and local number of TDs. There are strong evidences that in physics the fields are fundamental entities of nature and not particles. If this is the case then topological defects (TDs) might play the role of fundamental particles. An adequate testing ground to study and gain fundamental understanding of TDs are nematic liquid crystals. We present a numerical study of TDs within effectively two dimensional closed soft films exhibiting in-plane orientational ordering. Popular examples of such class of systems are liquid crystalline shells and various biological membranes. We analyze the impact of extrinsic and intrinsic curvature on positions of topological defects (TDs) in two-dimensional (2D) nematic films. We demonstrate that both these curvature contributions are commonly present and are expected to be weighted by comparable elastic constants. A simple Landau-de Gennes approach in terms of tensor nematic order parameter is used to numerically demonstrate impact of the curvatures on position of TDs on 2D ellipsoidal nematic shells. We introduce the Effective Topological Charge Cancellation mechanism controlling localised positional assembling tendency of TDs and the formation of pairs (defect,antidefect) on curved surfaces. Furthermore, we estimate a critical depinning threshold to form pairs (defect,antidefect) using the electrostatic analogy. Finally, we show how one could efficiently switch among qualitatively different structures by using a relative volume of ordered shells, which represents a relatively simple naturally accessible control parameter. In doctoral thesis, we developed theoretical model of erythrocyte membrane by using a hybrid Helfrich-Landau type mesoscopic approach, taking into account in-plane membrane ordering. We demonstrate that the derived extrinsic membrane energy term, which strongly depends on the local orientations of the molecules, is essential for the predicted broadening of the range of the relative volumes corresponding to the stable discocyte shapes, which is otherwise very narrow if only intrinsic curvature energy term dominates.
Keywords: Topological defects, Continuum fields, Nematic liquid crystals, Biological membranes, Nematic shells, Landau-de Gennes formalism, Topological charge, Nanoparticles, Gaussian curvature, Electrostatic analogy, Intrinsic curvature, Extrinsic curvature, Crystal growth nucleation, Relative volume
Published in DKUM: 09.03.2018; Views: 2391; Downloads: 242
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Abstract: In recent years, membrane technology has been widely used in wastewater treatment and water purification. Membrane technology is simple to operate and produces very high quality water for human consumption and industrial purposes. One of the promising technologies for water and wastewater treatment is the application of forward osmosis. Essentially, forward osmosis is a process in which water is driven through a semipermeable membrane from a feed solution to a draw solution due to the osmotic pressure gradient across the membrane. The immediate advantage over existing pressure driven membrane technologies is that the forward osmosis process per se eliminates the need for operation with high hydraulic pressure and forward osmosis has low fouling tendency. Hence, it provides an opportunity for saving energy and membrane replacement cost. However, there are many limitations that still need to be addressed. Here we briefly review some of the applications within water purification and new developments in forward osmosis membrane fabrication.
Keywords: wastewater treatment, biomimetic membranes, desalination, draw solutions, forward osmosis
Published in DKUM: 18.08.2017; Views: 1533; Downloads: 438
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Abstract: The discovery of selective water channel proteins-aquaporins-has prompted growing interest in using these proteins, as the building blocks for designing new types of membranes. However, as with any other new and potentially disruptive technology, barriers for successful market entry exist. One category includes customer-related barriers, which can be influenced to some extent. Another category includes market-technical-related barriers, which can be very difficult to overcome by an organization/company aiming at successfully introducing their innovation on the market%in particular if both the organization and the technology are at early stages. Often, one faces barriers from both these categories at the same time, which makes it necessary to gain insight of the particular market when introducing a new innovative product. In this review we present the basic concepts and discuss some of these barriers and challenges associated with introducing biomimetic aquaporin membranes. These include technical issues in membrane production and product testing. Then we discuss possible business models for introducing new technologies in general, followed by a presentation of beach-head market segments relevant for biomimetic aquaporin membranes.
Keywords: aquaporin membranes, biomimetic, commercialization, early stage technology
Published in DKUM: 21.06.2017; Views: 1519; Downloads: 347
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Abstract: We studied biological membranes of spherical topology within the framework of the spontaneous curvature model. Both Monte Carlo simulations and the numerical minimization of the curvature energy were used to obtain the shapes of the vesicles. The shapes of the vesicles and their energy were calculated for different values of the reduced volume. The vesicles which exhibit inplane ordering were also studied. Minimal models have been developed in order to study the orientational ordering in colloids coated with a thin sheet of nematic liquid crystal (nematic shells).The topological defects are always present on the surfaces with the topology of a sphere.The location of the topological defects depends strongly on the curvature of the surface. We studied the nematic ordering and the formation of topological defects on vesicles obtained by the minimization of the spontaneous curvature energy.
Keywords: biological membranes, vesicles, spontaneous curvature model, Monte Carlo simulations, nematic shells, orientational ordering, topological defects
Published in DKUM: 14.06.2017; Views: 1285; Downloads: 396
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Abstract: The paper describes the performance of Pebax©/Polyethylene glycol (PEG) blend thin film composite membranes for CO2 separation from gas mixtures containing H2, N2 and CH4. Membranes were tested at different conditions; temperature andpressure dependence of gas flux and selectivity were explored. The temperature dependence was correlated with the Arrhenius equation to determinethe activation energy of single gas permeation. Single and mixed gas permeation was measured for different pressures at 293K up to 20 bar. Improvedpermeabilities and CO2/H2 selectivities were obtained in the newly developed composite membranes.
Keywords: chemical processing, membranes, membrane separation, CO2, Pebax, thin film composite membranes, gas separation
Published in DKUM: 01.06.2012; Views: 2374; Downloads: 48
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