A wide variety of systems, including granular media, colloidal suspensions and molecular systems, exhibit non-equilibrium transitions from a fluid-like to a solid-like state, characterized solely by the sudden arrest of their dynamics. Crowding or jamming of the constituent particles traps them kinetically, precluding further exploration of the phase space. The disordered fluid-like structure remains essentially unchanged at the transition. The jammed solid can be refluidized by thermalization, through temperature or vibration, or by an applied stress. The generality of the jamming transition led to the proposal of a unifying description, based on a jamming phase diagram. It was further postulated that attractive interactions might have the same effect in jamming the system as a confining pressure, and thus could be incorporated into the generalized description. Here we study experimentally the fluid-to-solid transition of weakly attractive colloidal particles, which undergo markedly similar gelation behaviour with increasing concentration and decreasing thermalization or stress. Our results support the concept of a jamming phase diagram for attractive colloidal particles, providing a unifying link between the glass transition, gelation and aggregation.

We describe an experimental technique for the production of highly monodisperse emulsions (with minimum achievable polydispersities <3%). The phase to be dispersed is introduced into a coflowing, surfactant-laden continuous phase via a tapered capillary. Drops detach from the capillary when the streamwise forces exceed the force due to interfacial tension. Drop size is a function of the capillary tip diameter, the velocity of the continuous phase, the extrusion rate, and the viscosities and interfacial tension of the two phases. Emulsions composed of a variety of fluids and with drop sizes ranging from 2 to 200 µm have been produced using this technique.

Among the candidates to replace Li-ion batteries, Li-S cells are an attractive option as their energy density is about five times higher (~2,600 Wh kg). The success of Li-S cells depends in large part on the utilization of metallic Li as anode material. Metallic lithium, however, is prone to grow parasitic dendrites and is highly reactive to several electrolytes; moreover, Li-S cells with metallic Li are also susceptible to polysulfides dissolution. Here, we show that ~10-nm-thick two-dimensional (2D) MoS can act as a protective layer for Li-metal anodes, greatly improving the performances of Li-S batteries. In particular, we observe stable Li electrodeposition and the suppression of dendrite nucleation sites. The deposition and dissolution process of a symmetric MoS-coated Li-metal cell operates at a current density of 10 mA cm with low voltage hysteresis and a threefold improvement in cycle life compared with using bare Li-metal. In a Li-S full-cell configuration, using the MoS-coated Li as anode and a 3D carbon nanotube-sulfur cathode, we obtain a specific energy density of ~589 Wh kg and a Coulombic efficiency of ~98% for over 1,200 cycles at 0.5 C. Our approach could lead to the realization of high energy density and safe Li-metal-based batteries.

We show that gelation of weakly attractive colloids is remarkably similar to the colloidal glass transition. Like the glass transition, dynamic light scattering functions near gelation scale with scattering vector, and exhibits a two-step decay with a power-law divergence of the final decay time. Like the glass transition, static light scattering does not change upon gelation. These results suggest that, like the glass transition, gelation results from kinetic arrest due to crowding of clusters, and that both gelation and the glass transition are manifestations of a more general jamming transition.