Related papers: Colloids and polymers in random colloidal matrices…
We report a Monte Carlo simulation study of the properties of highly asymmetric binary hard sphere mixtures. This system is treated within an effective fluid approximation in which the large particles interact through a depletion potential…
We determine the phase diagram of mixtures of spherical colloids and neutral nonadsorbing polymers in the thermal crossover region between the $\theta$ point and the good-solvent regime. We use the generalized free-volume theory (GFVT),…
Colloids immersed in a critical binary liquid mixture are subject to critical Casimir forces (CCFs) because they confine its concentration fluctuations and influence the latter via effective surface fields. To date, CCFs have only been…
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…
Recent experimental results suggest that the E. coli chromosome feels a self-attracting interaction of osmotic origin, and is condensed in foci by bridging interactions. Motivated by these findings, we explore a generic modeling framework…
We investigate the motion of two overlapping polymers with self-avoidance confined in a narrow 2d box. A statistical model is constructed using blob free-energy arguments. We find spontaneous segregation under the condition: $L > R_{//}$,…
The properties of a semiflexible polymer with fixed ends exposed to oscillatory shear flow are investigated by simulations. The two-dimensionally confined polymer is modeled as a linear bead-spring chain, and the interaction with the fluid…
We studied the phase behavior of charged and sterically stabilized colloids using confocal microscopy in a less polar solvent (dielectric constant 5.4). Upon increasing the colloid volume fraction we found a transition from a fluid to a…
The structure and function of polymers in confined environments, e.g., biopolymers in the cytoplasm of a cell, are strongly affected by macromolecular crowding. To explore the influence of solvent quality on conformations of crowded…
Employing simplified models in computer simulation is on the one hand often enforced by computer time limitations but on the other hand it offers insights into the molecular properties determining a given physical phenomenon. We employ this…
The properties of semiflexible polymers tethered by one end to an impenetrable wall and exposed to oscillatory shear flow are investigated by mesoscale simulations. A polymer, confined in two dimensions, is described by a linear bead-spring…
The presence of nanoparticles in a diblock copolymer leads to changes in the morphology and properties of the matrix and can produce highly organized hybrid materials. The resulting material properties depend not only on the polymer…
We consider a solute-solvent-structure mutually coupled system of equations given by an Oldroyd-type model for a two-dimensional dilute corotational polymer fluid with solute diffusion and damping that is interacting with a one-dimensional…
If colloidal solute particles are suspended in a solvent close to its critical point, they act as cavities in a fluctuating medium and thereby restrict and modify the fluctuation spectrum in a way which depends on their relative…
Motivated by recent nanofluidics experiments, we use Brownian dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations to study the conformation, organization and dynamics of two polymer chains confined to a single box-like cavity. The polymers are modeled as…
Polymer translocation in crowded environments is a ubiquitous phenomenon in biological systems. We studied polymer translocation through a pore in free, one-sided (asymmetric), and two-sided (symmetric) crowded environments. Extensive…
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…
A recently proposed schematic model for the non--linear rheology of dense colloidal dispersions is compared to flow curves measured in suspensions that consist of thermosensitive particles. The volume fraction of this purely repulsive model…
We present Monte Carlo simulations of colloidal particles pulled into grafted polymer layers by external fields. The insertion free energy of a single colloid into the polymer layer is qualitatively different for surfaces with an ordered…
In this paper, the binary random packing fraction of similar particles with size ratios ranging from unity to well over 2 is studied. The classic excluded volume model for spherocylinders and cylinders proposed by Onsager [1] is revisited…