Project Details
Projekt
Magnetoviscosity of nanorod ferrofluids synthesized by virus templating
Applicants
Professor Carl Emil Krill III, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Kornelius Nielsch; Professorin Dr. Christina Wege
Subject Area
Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
Term
from 2006 to 2011
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 26109002
A two-year research project is proposed to prepare novel nanorod ferrofluids by virustemplate- assisted synthesis of ferromagnetic nanowires and nanotubes. If our current understanding of the magnetic-field-induced viscosity enhancement in ferrofluids is correct, then rod-shaped ferromagnetic nanoparticles should impart a dramatically improved stability against the shear thinning that plagues conventional ferrofluids, suggesting that nanorod ferrofluids would be ideal for usage in adaptive damping systems or in any other application benefiting from force transfer via liquids. The primary goals of this project are (1) to prepare large amounts of the highly stable, non-pathogenic tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) from plants or yeast cultures; (2) to employ TMV as a biotemplate for the growth of ferromagnetic nanowires and nanotubes of controlled aspect ratio; (3) to suspend the nanorods in a suitable carrier fluid and characterize the magnetic properties of the resulting ferrofluid; (4) to measure the frequency-dependent complex viscosity of nanorod ferrofluids and compare it to that of conventional ferrofluids; and (5) to test the predictions of theoretical models for the viscosity enhancement as a function of the aspect ratio of suspended ferromagnetic particles.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
