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We study the effective interaction between differently charged polyelectrolyte-colloid complexes in electrolyte solutions via Monte Carlo simulations. These complexes are formed when short and flexible polyelectrolyte chains adsorb onto…
Theoretical calculations for colloidal charge-stabilized and hard sphere suspensions show that hydrodynamic interactions yield a qualitatively different particle concentration dependence of the short-time self-diffusion coefficient. The…
Hypotheses: The aggregation number and length of spherocylindrical (rodlike, wormlike) micelles in solutions of an ionic surfactant and salt can be predicted knowing the molecular parameters and the input concentrations of the species. This…
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…
We investigate theoretically the phase diagram of an insoluble charged surfactant monolayer in contact with a semi-dilute polyelectrolyte solution (of opposite charge). The polyelectrolytes are assumed to have long-range and attractive…
Field-induced assembly of colloidal particles into structures of desired configurations is extremely relevant from the viewpoint of producing field-assembled micro-swimmers and reconfigurable smart materials. However, the behaviour of…
Ultrasoft colloids typically do not spontaneously crystallize, but rather vitrify, at high concentrations. Combining in-situ rheo-SANS experiments and numerical simulations we show that shear facilitates crystallization of colloidal star…
When a system undergoes a transition from a liquid to a solid phase, it passes through multiple intermediate structures before reaching the final state. However, our knowledge on the exact pathways of this process is limited, mainly due to…
We present an experiment on crystallization of packings of macroscopic granular spheres. This system is often considered to be a model for thermally driven atomic or colloidal systems. Cyclically shearing a packing of frictional spheres, we…
The crystallization of proteins or colloids is often hindered by the appearance of aggregates of low fractal dimension called gels. Here we study the effect of electrostatics upon crystal and gel formation using an analytic model of hard…
The adsorption of highly \textit{oppositely} charged flexible polyelectrolytes onto a charged spherical surface is investigated by means of Monte Carlo simulations in a fashion which resembles the layer-by-layer deposition technique…
We study both experimentally and theoretically the self-assembly of binary block copolymers in dilute solution, where self-assembly is triggered by changing the solvent from the common good solvent THF to the selective solvent water, and…
Electrostatics plays a key role in biomolecular assembly. Oppositely charged biomolecules, for instance, can co-assembled into functional units, such as DNA and histone proteins into nucleosomes and actin-binding protein complexes into…
The coil-globule transition of an isolated polymer has been well established to be a second-order phase transition described by a standard tricritical O(0) field theory. We provide compelling evidence from Monte Carlo simulations in four…
Using confocal-microscopy we investigate the structure of binary mixtures of colloidal hard spheres with size ratio q=0.61. As a function of the packing fraction of the two particle species, we observe a marked change of the dominant…
We study bridging transitions between spherically and cylindrically shaped particles (colloids) of radius $R$ separated by a distance $H$ that are dissolved in a bulk fluid (solvent). Using macroscopics, microscopic density functional…
We assemble charged colloidal spheres at deliberately chosen locations on a charged unstructured glass substrate utilizing ion exchange based electro-osmotic micro-pumps. Using microscopy, a simple scaling theory and Brownian Dynamics…
Engineered nanoparticles made from noble metals, rare-earth oxides or semiconductors are emerging as the central constituents of future nanotech developments. In this review, a survey of the complexing strategies between nanoparticles and…
The design of complex materials and the formation of specific patterns often arise from the properties of the individual building blocks. In this respect, colloidal systems offer a unique opportunity because nowadays they can be synthesized…
Disordered dielectrics with structural correlations on length scales comparable to visible light wavelengths exhibit complex optical properties. Such materials exist in nature, leading to beautiful structural non-iridescent color, and they…