Designing nanoparticle self-propulsion With nonequilibrium Casimir physics
Name
930613286-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
7.7 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
9e75274a47415426077a57b1e5d152a7
Author(s)
Tomlinson, Eric D
Advisor(s)
Steven G. Johnson and Robert L. Jaffe.
Date Issued
2015
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
This work presents an analysis of thermal self-propulsion behavior in nanoparticles using several recent advancements in the field of nonequilibrium Casimir physics. We compute fundamental limits on the thermal power emission and thermal self-propulsion force that is attainable for particles of a given size. The limits that we obtain are valid for photon emission at a single frequency; however, they allow us to estimate the maximum total power emission and self-propulsion force that we can expect to achieve for a wide range of materials that are commonly used in nanoparticle manufacturing. We provide a detailed description of the role that particle temperature, material composition, and geometry play in generating thermal self-propulsion forces and use this information to develop a general procedure for designing efficient self-propulsion behavior using the SCUFF-EM software package [24]. Finally, we present the results of our exploratory design study amongst silicon dioxide nanoparticles and identify three candidates that exhibit strong self-propulsion.
Description
Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Physics, 2015.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 69-71).
Subjects
Physics.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Terms of Use
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