Related papers: Simulational study of anomalous tracer diffusion i…

Mesh-like structures, such as mucus gel or cytoskeleton networks, are ubiquitous in biological systems. These intricate structures are composed of cross-linked, semi-flexible bio-filaments, crucial to numerous biological processes. In many…

Based on a coarse-grained model, we carry out molecular dynamics simulations to analyze the diffusion of a small tracer particle inside a cylindrical channel whose inner wall is covered with randomly grafted short polymeric chains. We…

Transport of tracer particles through mesh-like environments such as biological hydrogels and polymer matrices is ubiquitous in nature. These tracers could be passive, such as colloids or active (self-propelled), such as synthetic…

Fundamental understanding of the effect of microscopic parameters on the dynamics of probe particles in different complex environments has wide implications. Examples include diffusion of proteins in the biological hydrogels, porous media,…

We use molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the tracer diffusion in a sea of polymers with specific binding zones for the tracer. These binding zones act as traps. Our simulations show that the tracer can undergo normal yet…

We present dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements of soft polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) and polyacrylamide(PA) polymer gels prepared with trapped bodies (latex spheres or maghemite nanoparticles). We show that the anomalous…

We discuss the manner in which the dynamics of tracer polystyrene chains varies with the concentration of matrix polystyrene chains dissolved in toluene. Using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy and theory, it is shown that the…

Macromolecular diffusion in strongly confined geometries and crowded environments is still to a large extent an open subject in soft matter physics and biology. In this paper, we employ large-scale Langevin dynamics simulations to…

Tracer-diffusion of small molecules through dense systems of chain polymers is studied within an athermal lattice model, where hard core interactions are taken into account by means of the site exclusion principle. An approximate mapping of…

Computer simulations were done of the mean square displacement (MSD) of tracer particles in colloidal gels formed by diffusion or reaction limited aggregation of hard spheres. The diffusion coefficient was found to be determined by the…

Tracer diffusion in polymer networks and hydrogels is relevant in biology and technology, while it also constitutes an interesting model process for the dynamics of molecules in fluctuating, heterogeneous soft matter. Here, we study…

This study uses a combination of stochastic optimization, statistical mechanical theory, and molecular simulation to test the extent to which the long-time dynamics of a single tracer particle can be enhanced by rationally modifying its…

Using scaling arguments and extensive numerical simulations, we study dynamics of a tracer particle in a corrugated channel represented by a periodic sequence of broad chambers and narrow funnel-like bottlenecks enclosed by a hard-wall…

Diffusion of chemicals or tracer molecules through complex systems containing irregularly shaped channels is important in many applications. Most theoretical studies based on the famed Fick-Jacobs equation focus on the idealised case of…

Diffusion of tracer particles in the cytoplasm of mammalian cells is often anomalous with a marked heterogeneity even within individual particle trajectories. Despite considerable efforts, the mechanisms behind these observations have…

We investigate the obstructed motion of tracer (test) particles in crowded environments by carrying simulations of two-dimensional Gaussian random walk in model fibrinogen monolayers of different orientational ordering. The fibrinogen…

The diffusion of small molecular penetrants through polymeric materials represents an important fundamental problem, relevant to the design of materials for applications such as coatings and membranes. Polymer networks hold promise in these…

The diffusion of macromolecules in cells and in complex fluids is often found to deviate from simple Fickian diffusion. One explanation offered for this behavior is that molecular crowding renders diffusion anomalous, where the mean-squared…

Structure and dynamics at soft-matter interfaces play an important role in nature and technical applications. Optical single-molecule investigations are non-invasive and capable to reveal heterogeneities at the nanoscale. In this work we…

Small angle neutron and x-ray scattering methods are used to investigate the structure of dilute suspensions of two different ferrofluid systems dispersed in soft polyacrylamide hydrogels. It is found that the particles in the fluid are…