Influence of particle geometry on dispersion force

TL;DR

This study investigates how complex particle geometries influence dispersion forces using an exact scattering theory-based algorithm, introducing a new predictive formula based on multiscale surface analysis.

Contribution

The paper develops a novel approach combining the fluctuating surface current method and multiscale geometric analysis to accurately evaluate dispersion forces for irregularly shaped particles.

Findings

Dispersion forces are significantly affected by multiscale surface fluctuations.

A new formula for predicting dispersion forces between complex-shaped particles was established.

The method improves accuracy over traditional additive approximations.

Abstract

Dispersion forces (van der Waals force and Casimir force) originating from quantum fluctuations are crucial in the cohesion of microscale and nanoscale particles. In reality, these particles have a variety of irregular shapes that differ considerably from any idealized geometry. Previous experiments have demonstrated that dispersion forces strongly depend on the geometry. Because of the nonadditivity of these forces, commonly used numerical additive methods, such as the Hamaker and Derjaguin approximations, are not suitable for calculations with complex geometries. Moreover, experimental studies are difficult to identify the contributions of the dispersion force from the many forces that constitute the cohesion. Therefore, no general law about the influence of particle geometry on dispersion forces has been established. Thus, in this paper, the fluctuating surface current (FSC) technique, an exact scattering theory-based nonadditive algorithm, was used to study this influence. To characterize complex geometries, a data-adaptive spatial filtering method was introduced to perform scale decomposition, and descriptors at three observation levels (global, local, and surface) were used. Based on the advanced geometric analyses and accurate numerical calculations, the influence of multiscale surface fluctuations on dispersion forces was determined. Furthermore, a convenient formula for predicting the dispersion forces between particles with complex shapes from the exact Lifshitz solution was established via multistage corrections.