title: Dynamics and yielding of binary self-suspended nanoparticle fluids.
abstract: Yielding and flow transitions in bi-disperse suspensions of particles are studied using a model system comprised of self-suspended spherical nanoparticles. An important feature of the materials is that the nanoparticles are uniformly dispersed in the absence of a solvent. Addition of larger particles to a suspension of smaller ones is found to soften the suspensions, and in the limit of large size disparities, completely fluidizes the material. We show that these behaviors coincide with a speeding-up of de-correlation dynamics of all particles in the suspensions and are accompanied by a reduction in the energy dissipated at the yielding transition. We discuss our findings in terms of ligand-mediated jamming and un-jamming of hairy particle suspensions.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. laa25@cornell.edu.
authors.forename: Akanksha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Agrawal
authors.forename: Hsiu-Yu
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Samanvaya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Srivastava
authors.forename: Snehashis
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Choudhury
authors.forename: Suresh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Narayanan
authors.forename: Lynden A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Archer