Related papers: Phase Transitions in Soft Matter Induced by Select…
Partitioning and transport of water and small solutes into and through nanopores is important to a variety of chemical and biological processes and applications. Here we study the partitioning of positive ions of increasing size into the…
First-order phase transitions are characterized by a discontinuous first derivative of the Gibbs free energy, so that volumes and entropies are discontinuous. Such transitions are common in the crystalline state, but extremely rare in…
Microgels are often discussed as well-suited model system for soft colloids. In contrast to rigid spheres, the microgel volume and, coupled to this, the volume fraction in dispersion can be manipulated by external stimuli. This behavior is…
We consider the phase separation of binary fluids in contact with a surface which is preferentially wetted by one of the components of the mixture. We review the results available for this problem and present new numerical results obtained…
Colloid-polymer mixtures may undergo either fluid-fluid phase separation or gelation. This depends on the depth of the quench (polymer concentration) and polymer-colloid size ratio. We present a real-space study of dynamics in phase…
We report that binary dispersions of like-charged colloidal particles with large charge asymmetry but similar size exhibit phase separation into crystal and fluid phases under very low salt conditions. This is unexpected because the…
Liquid droplets on soft solids, such as soft polymeric gels, can induce substantial surface deformations, leading to the formation of wetting ridges at contact points. While these contact ridges have been shown to govern the rich surface…
The structure and thermodynamic state of a system changes under the influence of external electric fields. Neutral systems are characterized by their dielectric constant epsilon, while charged ones also by their charge distribution. In this…
Ethanol is a common protein crystallization agent, precipitant, and denaturant, but also alters the dielectric properties of solutions. While ethanol-induced unfolding is largely ascribed to its hydrophobic parts, its effect on protein…
The presence of surfactants has a pronounced effect on the surface tension and, hence, on the stress balance at the phase separating interface of two-phase flows. The transport of momentum induced by the local variations of the capillary…
Particle-stabilised emulsions are a cornerstone of soft matter science due to their broad application and fundamental relevance. Computer simulations provide key insights into the formation and behaviour of these emulsions, yet current…
While the important role of electrostatic interactions in aqueous colloidal suspensions is widely known and reasonably well-understood, the relevance of charge in nonpolar suspensions remains mysterious. We demonstrate that particles can…
Self-propelled particles include both self-phoretic synthetic colloids and various micro-organisms. By continually consuming energy, they bypass the laws of equilibrium thermodynamics. These laws enforce the Boltzmann distribution in…
The phase behavior of colloid-polymer mixtures, and of solutions of globular proteins, is often interpreted in terms of a simple model of hard spheres with short-ranged attraction. While such a model yields a qualitative understanding of…
When immiscible liquids are subject to electric fields interfacial forces arise due to a difference in the permittivity or the conductance of the liquids, and these forces lead to shape change in droplets or to interfacial instabilities. In…
Phase-separated magnetic fluids provide a very strong magnetic response ($\mu>25$) in a liquid state material. Even small fields can cause a notable material response, but this depends on its properties, which are often difficult to…
Adding a non-adsorbing polymer to passive colloids induces an attraction between the particles via the `depletion' mechanism. High enough polymer concentrations lead to phase separation. We combine experiments, theory and simulations to…
This is a short survey on recent results obtained by the authors on dynamical phase transitions of interacting particle systems. We consider particle systems with exclusion dynamics, but it is conjectured that our results should hold for a…
We study binary mixtures of small active and big passive athermal particles interacting via soft repulsive forces on a frictional substrate. Athermal self propelled particles are known to phase separate into a dense aggregate and a dilute…
The liquid-liquid phase separation of a binary solvent can be arrested by colloidal particles trapped at the interface [K. Stratford et al., Science 309, 5744 (2005)]. We show experimentally that the colloidal network so formed can remain…