Related papers: Semiflexible polymers under external fields confin…
We present a theoretical description of the dynamics of a semi-flexible polymer being pulled through a nanopore by an external force acting at the pore. Our theory is based on the tensile blob picture of Pincus in which the front of the…
We describe some recent results concerning the statistical properties of a self-interacting polymer stretched by an external force. We concentrate mainly on the cases of purely attractive or purely repulsive self-interactions, but our…
Stretched polymers with attractive interaction are studied in two and three dimensions. They are described by biased self-avoiding random walks with nearest neighbour attraction. The bias corresponds to opposite forces applied to the first…
The dynamic behavior of semi-dilute polymer solutions is governed by an interplay between solvent quality, concentration, molecular weight, and flow type. Semi-dilute solutions are characterized by large fluctuations in concentration,…
Active dynamic processes of cells are largely driven by the cytoskeleton, a complex and adaptable semiflexible polymer network, motorized by mechanoenzymes. Small dimensions, confined geome- tries and hierarchical structures make it…
Semiflexible polymers are widely used as a paradigm for understanding structural phases in biomolecules including folding of proteins. Here, we compare bead-spring and bead-stick variants of coarse-grained semiflexible polymer models that…
We investigate extensional viscosity and polymer conformation in dilute polymer solutions under uniaxial extensional flow using dissipative particle dynamics simulations. At high extension rates, polymers are significantly stretched by…
Recent experiments suggest that shear-enhanced growth of concentration fluctuations in polymer solutions is strongly influenced by solid boundaries. We analyze the dynamics of a model of a sheared polymer solution, accounting for the effect…
The stretchability of polymeric materials is critical to many applications such as stretchable electronics and soft robotics, yet the stretchability of conventional cross-linked linear polymers is limited by the entanglements between…
Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations are used to study the shear thinning behavior of immiscible symmetric polymer blends. The phase separated polymers are subjected to a simple shear flow imposed by moving a wall parallel to the…
While the dynamics of a fully flexible polymer ejecting a capsid through a nanopore has been extensively studied, the ejection dynamics of semiflexible polymers has not been properly characterized. Here we report results from simulations of…
We study the deflection and fluctuations of a clamped elastic fiber embedded in 2D foam under quasistatic flow. At all times, the fiber conformation results from the elasto-capillary interactions with the foam. We independently measure the…
Spherical confinement can act either stabilizing or destabilizing on the collapsed state of a semi-flexible polymer. General free-energy arguments suggest that the order of the unconstrained collapse transition is the distinguishing factor:…
We study the translocation of a semiflexible polymer through extended pores with patterned stickiness, using Langevin dynamics simulations. We find that the consequence of pore patterning on the translocation time dynamics is dramatic and…
Wetting and drying phenomena are studied for flexible and semiflexible polymer solutions via coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations and density functional theory calculations. The study is based on the use of Young's equation for the…
Single partially confined collapsed polymers are studied in two dimensions. They are described by self-avoiding random walks with nearest-neighbour attractions below the $\Theta$-point, on the surface of an infinitely long cylinder. For the…
We investigate the stretching response of a thick polymer model by means of extensive stochastic simulations. The computational results are synthesized in an analytic expression that characterizes how the force versus elongation curve…
The translocation of biopolymers, such as DNA and proteins, across cellular or nuclear membranes is essential for numerous biological processes. The translocation dynamics are influenced by the properties of the polymers, such as polymer…
Polymer stretching in random smooth flows is investigated within the framework of the FENE dumbbell model. The advecting flow is Gaussian and short-correlated in time. The stationary probability density function of polymer extension is…
The conformations of semiflexible (bio)polymers are studied in flow through geometrically structured microchannels. Using mesoscale hydrodynamics simulations, we show that the polymer undergoes a rod-to-helix transition as it moves from the…