Related papers: Organic versus Hybrid Coacervate Complexes : Co-As…
The functionalities and applications of complex coacervates -- liquid condensates resulting from liquid-liquid phase separation of charged polymers -- are significantly influenced by the dispersion and aggregation states of guest…
We present ground-state configurations and photoabsorption spectra of Na-7+, Na-27+ and Na-41+. Both the ionic structure and the photoabsorption spectra of medium-size sodium clusters beyond Na-20 have been calculated self-consistently with…
Oxide ceramics are sensitive to slow crack growth because adsorption of water can take place at the crack tip, leading to a strong decrease of the surface energy in humid (or air) conditions. This is a major drawback concerning demanding,…
The structures and relative stabilities of doubly-charged nonstoichiometric (CaO)$_n$Ca$^{2+}$ (n=1--29) cluster ions and of neutral stoichiometric (MgO)$_n$ and (CaO)$_n$ (n=3,6,9,12,15,18) clusters are studied through {\em ab initio}…
Colloid-polymer hydrogels are encountered in various applications, from flow batteries to drug delivery. Here, we investigate hydrogels composed of hydrophobic colloidal soot particles -- carbon black (CB) -- and carboxymethylcellulose…
As the beneficial effects of curcumin have often been reported to be limited to its small concentrations, we have undertaken a study to find the aggregation properties of curcumin in water by varying the number of monomers. Our molecular…
Positron lifetime spectroscopy was used to study native vacancy defects in semi-insulating silicon carbide. The material is shown to contain (i) vacancy clusters consisting of 4--5 missing atoms and (ii) Si vacancy related negatively…
Anion exchange at positively charged interfaces plays an important role in a variety of physical and chemical processes. However, the molecular scale details of these processes, especially with heavy and large anionic complexes, are not…
Nanoscale investigations by scanning probe microscopy have provided major contributions to the rapid development of organic-inorganic halide perovskites (OIHP) as optoelectronic devices. Further improvement of device level properties…
The effect of different ionic cosolutes (NaCl, Na$_2$SO$_4$, Li$_2$SO$_4$, NaSCN, Na$_2$[Fe(CN)5NO], and Na$_3$[Co(NO)$_6$]) on the interaction between sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) was examined by small-angle…
Particles with directional interactions are promising building blocks for new functional materials and may serve as models for biological structures. Mutually attractive nanoparticles that are deformable due to flexible surface groups, for…
Layered CoO$_2$ is of great interest for its promising properties but is meta-stable in its bulk form. CoO$_2$ was synthesized by converting the quasi-one-dimensional crystal structure of bulk Ca$_3$Co$_2$O$_6$ via a hydrothermal treatment.…
The process of colloidal drying gives way to particle self-assembly in numerous elds including photonics or biotechnology. Yet, the mechanisms and conditions driving the nal particle arrangement in dry colloidal layers remain elusive. Here,…
Chemical surfactants are omnipresent in consumers' products but they suffer from environmental concerns. For this reason, complete replacement of petrochemical surfactants by biosurfactants constitute a holy grail but this is far from…
The electric dipole moments of $(H_{2}O)_{n}DCl$ ($n=3-9$) clusters have been measured by the beam deflection method. Reflecting the (dynamical) charge distribution within the system, the dipole moment contributes information about the…
Block copolymer melts self-assemble in the bulk into a variety of nanostructures, making them perfect candidates to template the position of nanoparticles. The morphological changes of block copolymers are studied in the presence of a…
We develop equilibrium and kinetic theories that describe the assembly of viral capsid proteins on a charged central core, as seen in recent experiments in which brome mosaic virus (BMV) capsids assemble around nanoparticles functionalized…
Nanoporous carbon-based supercapacitors store electricity through adsorption of ions from the electrolyte at the surface of the electrodes. Room temperature ionic liquids, which show the largest ion concentrations among organic liquid…
Cerium oxide nanoparticles are known to catalyze the decomposition of reactive oxygen species such as superoxide radical and hydrogen peroxide. Herein, we examine the superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) mimetic catalytic…
The nucleation, distribution, composition and structure of Pd nanocrystals in SiO$_2$ multilayers containing Ge, Si, and Pd are studied using High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy…