Shape Factors of Nanoparticles Interacting with a Solid Surface

Abstract

Hamaker’s classical approach has been used to derive relations for the energy and force of the interaction between nanoparticles with different shapes and a planar solid surface. The shapes have been represented by a sphere (the model of an isometric particle), a cylindrical disk (the model of a platelike particle), and a cylindrical rod (the model of a rodlike particle). Energy- and force-related shape factors, which are special coefficients characterizing the effect of particle shape on the intensity of particle interaction with a macroscopic solid, have been introduced and calculated. Functions of two types have been analyzed for the shape factors, i.e., the dependence on the gap between a particle and a solid and the dependence on the distance from the mass center of a particle to the surface of the solid. All calculations have been performed using the pair potential of dispersion forces without retardation.