We theoretically study the strain effect on the Casimir interactions in graphene based systems. We found that the interactions between two strained graphene sheets are strongly dependent on the direction of stretching. The influence of the strain on
the dispersion interactions is still strong in the presence of dielectric substrates but is relatively weak when the substrate is metallic. Our studies would suggest new ways to design next generation devices.
The electrostatic potential profile of a spherical soft particle is derived by solving the Poisson-Boltzmann equations on a spherical system both numerically and analytically. The soft particle is assumed to consist of an ion-permeable charged outer
layer and a non-permeable charged core with constant charged density. The contribution of the core to the potential profile is calculated for different charges and dielectric constants. Our results show that the charged core heavily influences the local potential within the soft particle. In contrast, the potential distribution outside the particle in the salt solution is found to be weakly dependent on the core features. These findings are consistent with previous experiments showing the minor impact of the core of the MS2 virus on its overall electrical properties. Our studies also indicate that while a change in temperature from 290 K to 310 K only slightly varies the potential, the ionic strength in the range of 1-600 mM has a significant effect on the potential profile. Our studies would provide good understanding for experimental research in the field of biophysics and nanomedicine.
The van der Waals interaction between a lipid membrane and a substrate covered by a graphene sheet is investigated using the Lifshitz theory. The reflection coefficients are obtained for a layered planar system submerged in water. The dielectric resp
onse properties of the involved materials are also specified and discussed. Our calculations show that a graphene covered substrate can repel the biological membrane in water. This is attributed to the significant changes in the response properties of the system due to the monolayer graphene. It is also found that the van der Waals interaction is mostly dominated by the presence of graphene, while the role of the particular substrate is secondary.
The radiative heat transfer between gold nanoparticle layers is presented using the coupled dipole method. Gold nanoparticles are modelled as effective electric and magnetic dipoles interacting via electromagnetic fluctuations. The effect of higher-o
rder multipoles is implemented in the expression of electric polarizability to calculate the interactions at short distances. Our findings show that the near-field radiation reduces as the radius of the nanoparticles is increased. Also, the magnetic dipole contribution to the heat exchange becomes more important for larger particles. When one layer is displayed in parallel with respect to the other layer, the near-field heat transfer exhibits oscillatory-like features due to the influence of the individual nanostructures. Further details about the effect of the nanoparticles size are also discussed.
We present theoretical calculations for the absorption properties of protein-coated gold nanoparticles on graphene and graphite substrates. As the substrate is far away from nanoparticles, numerical results show that the number of protein bovine seru
m molecules molecules aggregating on gold surfaces can be quantitatively determined for gold nanoparticles with arbitrary size by means of the Mie theory and the absorption spectra. The presence of graphitic substrate near protein-conjugated gold nanoparticles substantially enhances the red shift of the surface plasmon resonances of the nanoparticles. Our findings show that graphene and graphite provide the same absorption band when the distance between the nanoparticles and the substrate is large. However at shorter distances, the resonant wavelength peak of graphene-particle system differs from that of graphite-particle system. Furthermore, the influence of the chemical potential of graphene on the optical spectra is also investigated.
The van der Waals interactions between two parallel graphitic nanowiggles (GNWs) are calculated using the coupled dipole method (CDM). The CDM is an efficient and accurate approach to determine such interactions explicitly by taking into account the
discrete atomic structure. Our findings show that the van der Waals forces vary from attraction to repulsion as nanoribbons move along their lengths with respect to each other. This feature leads to a number of stable and unstable positions of the system during the movement process. These positions can be tuned by changing the length of GNW. Moreover, the influence of the thermal effect on the van der Waals interactions is also extensively investigated. This work would give good direction for both future theoretical and experimental studies.
Thermal effects contributing to the Casimir interaction between objects are usually small at room temperature and they are difficult to separate from quantum mechanical contributions at higher temperatures. We propose that the thermal Casimir force e
ffect can be observed for a graphene flake suspended in a fluid between substrates at the room temperature regime. The properly chosen materials for the substrates and fluid induce a Casimir repulsion. The balance with the other forces, such as gravity and buoyancy, results in a stable temperature dependent equilibrium separation. The suspended graphene is a promising system due to its potential for observing thermal Casimir effects at room temperature.
