Electric charge at the water-water interface of demixed solutions of neutral polymer and polyelectrolyte decreases the already ultralow interfacial tension. This is demonstrated in experiments on... Show moreElectric charge at the water-water interface of demixed solutions of neutral polymer and polyelectrolyte decreases the already ultralow interfacial tension. This is demonstrated in experiments on aqueous mixtures of dextran (neutral) and nongelling fish gelatin (charged). Upon phase separation, electric charge and a potential difference develop spontaneously at the interface, decreasing the interfacial tension purely electrostatically in a way that can be accounted for quantitatively by Poisson-Boltzmann theory. Interfacial tension is a key property when it comes to manipulating the water-water interface, for instance to create novel water-in-water emulsions. Show less
Rittmeyer, S.P.; Meyer, J.; Juaristi, J.I.; Reuter, K. 2015
We investigate the possibility of using molecular alignment for controlling the relative probability of individual reaction pathways in polyatomic molecules initiated by electronic processes on the... Show moreWe investigate the possibility of using molecular alignment for controlling the relative probability of individual reaction pathways in polyatomic molecules initiated by electronic processes on the few-femtosecond time scale. Using acetylene as an example, it is shown that aligning the molecular axis with respect to the polarization direction of the ionizing laser pulse does not only allow us to enhance or suppress the overall fragmentation yield of a certain fragmentation channel but, more importantly, to determine the relative probability of individual reaction pathways starting from the same parent molecular ion. We show that the achieved control over dissociation or isomerization pathways along specific nuclear degrees of freedom is based on a controlled population of associated excited dissociative electronic states in the molecular ion due to relatively enhanced ionization contributions from inner valence orbitals. Show less
Goikoetxea, I.; Meyer, J.; Juaristi, J.I.; Alducin, M.; Reuter, K. 2014
