Enhancing Rotational Diffusion Using Oscillatory Shear

Leahy, Brian D.; Cheng, Xiang; Ong, Desmond C.; Liddell-Watson, Chekesha; Cohen, Itai

Type

Article

Authors

Leahy, Brian D.
Cheng, Xiang
Ong, Desmond C.
Liddell-Watson, Chekesha
Cohen, Itai

KAUST Grant Number

KUS-C1-018-02

Date

2013-05-29

Permanent link to this record

http://hdl.handle.net/10754/598194

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Abstract

Taylor dispersion - shear-induced enhancement of translational diffusion - is an important phenomenon with applications ranging from pharmacology to geology. Through experiments and simulations, we show that rotational diffusion is also enhanced for anisotropic particles in oscillatory shear. This enhancement arises from variations in the particle's rotation (Jeffery orbit) and depends on the strain amplitude, rate, and particle aspect ratio in a manner that is distinct from the translational diffusion. This separate tunability of translational and rotational diffusion opens the door to new techniques for controlling positions and orientations of suspended anisotropic colloids. © 2013 American Physical Society.

Citation

Leahy BD, Cheng X, Ong DC, Liddell-Watson C, Cohen I (2013) Enhancing Rotational Diffusion Using Oscillatory Shear. Physical Review Letters 110. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.228301.

Sponsors

We thank D. Koch, Y. Lin, and T. Beatus for useful discussions, and M. Solomon for useful discussions on particle synthesis and featuring. This Letter is based on work supported in part by Award No. KUS-C1-018-02 made by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering under Award No. ER46517 (X. C., D. C. O., and C. L.-W.) and DoD, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship 32 CFR 168a (B. D. L.).