Contaminant removal using vibrating surfaces: nanoscale insights and a universal scaling law

The development of active self-cleaning surfaces, i.e. surfaces that remove nanoscale contaminants using external forces such as electric or magnetic fields, is critical to many engineering applications. The use of surface vibrations represents a promising alternative, but the underlying nanoscale physics - in the absence of an intermediate liquid medium - is poorly-understood. We use molecular dynamics simulations to explore the use of ultrahigh-frequency surface acoustic wave devices for contaminant removal. Our simulations reveal that there exists a critical vibrational energy threshold, determined by the amplitude and frequency of the surface vibrations, that must be surpassed to effectively dislodge contaminant particles. We derive a universal scaling law that links the characteristic size of particles to the optimal vibrational parameters required for their removal. This provides a theoretical framework to aid the development of advanced, scalable self-cleaning surfaces, with applications ranging from semiconductors to large-scale industrial systems. The dataset is related to the publication by Rohit Pillai, David Neilan, Cameron Handel, and Saikat Datta (2025), "Contaminant removal using vibrating surfaces: nanoscale insights and a universal scaling law", Nano Letters.