Related papers: Effects of strongly selective additives on volume …
We study a multi-body finite element model of a packing of hydrogel particles using the Flory-Rehner constitutive law to model the deformation of the swollen polymer network. We show that while the dependence of the pressure, $\Pi$, on the…
Ionic microgel particles in a good solvent swell to an equilibrium size determined by a balance of electrostatic and elastic forces. When crowded, ionic microgels deswell owing to a redistribution of microions inside and outside the…
Using a combination of analytical theory, Monte Carlo simulations, and three dimensional self-consistent field calculations, we study the equilibrium properties and the switching behavior of adsorption-active polymer chains included in a…
We review our recent studies on selective solvation effects in phase separation in polar binary mixtures with a small amount of solutes. Such hydrophilic or hydrophobic particles are preferentially attracted to one of the solvent…
We use a series of molecular dynamics simulations, and analytical theory, to demonstrate that a system of hard spheres confined to a narrow cylindrical channel exhibits a continuous phase transition from an isotropic fluid at low densities,…
Determining the onset of rigidity in gels is a fundamental challenge with significant practical implications across different applications. Limited-valence, or patchy-particle systems have proven to be a valuable model to study the…
The formation of (bio)molecular condensates via liquid-liquid phase separation in cells has received increasing attention, as these coacervates play important functional and regulatory roles within biological systems. However, the majority…
We study theoretically the effects of confinement on active polar gels such as the actin network of eukaryotic cells. Using generalized hydrodynamics equations derived for active gels, we predict, in the case of quasi one-dimensional…
When a swollen, thermoresponsive polymer gel is heated in a solvent bath, it expels solvent and deswells. When this heating is slow, deswelling proceeds homogeneously, as observed in a toroid-shaped gel that changes volume whilst…
Phase transitions in polar binary mixtures can be drastically altered even by a small amount of salt. This is because the preferential solvation strongly depends on the ambient composition. Together with a summary of our research in this…
We investigate theoretically and numerically the effect of polymer additives on two-dimensional turbulence by means of a viscoelastic model. We provide compelling evidence that at vanishingly small concentrations, such that the polymers are…
We study a chemical gelation model in two dimensions which includes both monomer aggregations and bond fluctuations. Our numerical simulation shows that a sol-gel transition occurs when an initial monomer concentration is above a critical…
Transitions in structural heterogeneity of colloidal depletion gels formed through short-range attractive interactions are correlated with their dynamical arrest. The system is a density and refractive index matched suspension of 0.20…
By means of classical density functional theory and its dynamical extension, we consider a colloidal fluid with spherically-symmetric competing interactions, which are well known to exhibit a rich bulk phase behavior. This includes complex…
We investigate the swelling and shrinking of L_beta lamellar gel phases composed of surfactant and fatty alcohol after contact with aqueous poly(ethylene-glycol) solutions. The height change $\Delta h(t)$ is diffusion-like with a swelling…
By taking advantage of the molecular weight dependence of the glass transition of polymers and their ability to form perfectly miscible blends, we propose a way to modify the fragility of a system, from fragile to strong, keeping the same…
We deduce the qualitative phase diagram of a long flexible neutral polymer chain immersed in a poor solvent near an attracting surface using phenomenological arguments. The actual positions of the phase boundaries are estimated numerically…
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…
Polymer chains decorated with a fraction of monomers capable of forming reversible bonds form transient polymer networks that are important in soft and biological systems. If chains are flexible and the attractive monomers are all of the…
We discuss the effects of the solvent composition on the helix-coil transition of a polypeptide chain. We use a simple model to demonstrate that improving the hydrogen-bonding ability of the solvent can make the transition less cooperative,…