Related papers: Photo-active collagen systems with controlled trip…
The stability and performance of halide perovskite photovoltaic devices are critically limited by progressive defect generation and associated local non-radiative losses during operation. Self-healing of defects provides a promising pathway…
Monolayer films of transition metal dichalcogenides (in particular, MoS2, MoSe2, WS2, and WSe2) can be considered as ideal systems for the studies of high-temperature electron-hole liquids. The quasi-two-dimensional nature of electrons and…
The adsorption of a collagen fragment on both a hydrophobic, hydrogen-terminated and a hydrophilic, natively oxidised Si surface is investigated using all-atom molecular dynamics. While favourable direct protein-surface interactions via…
Stimuli-responsive lyogels are known for their ability to undergo significant macroscopic changes when exposed to external stimuli. While thermo-responsive gels, such as poly N isopropylacrylamide (pNIPAM), have been extensively studied…
We design photonic structures embedding different functional molecular systems of photochromic switching and lasing. We study the light absorption of two photochromic molecules and of 4,4'-bis[(N-carbazole)styryl]biphenyl (BSB-Cz) with…
Recent experiments have demonstrated that in a dense monolayer of photo-switchable dye Methyl-Red molecules the relaxation of an initial birefringence follows a power-law decay, typical for glass-like dynamics. The slow relaxation can…
Hydrogels of semiflexible biopolymers such as collagen have been shown to contract axially under shear strain, in contrast to the axial dilation observed for most elastic materials. Recent work has shown that this behavior can be understood…
We report the electronic transport properties of a new photo-addressable molecular switch. The switching process relies on a new concept based on linear {\pi}-conjugated dynamic systems, in which the geometry and hence the electronic…
Biological living materials, such as animal bones and plant stems, are able to self-heal, regenerate, adapt and make decisions under environmental pressures. Despite recent successful efforts to imbue synthetic materials with some of these…
The present work presents a density-functional microscopic model of soft biological tissue. The model was based on a prototype molecular structure from experimentally resolved collagen peptide residues and water clusters and has the…
Photosynthetic systems utilize adaptability to respond efficiently to fluctuations in their light environment. As a result, large photosynthetic yields can be achieved in conditions of low light intensity, while photoprotection mechanisms…
Through a combination of rheological characterization and temperature-variable imaging methods, a novel gelation pathway in dilute solutions of a semiconducting polymer to achieve interconnected, crystalline networks with hierarchical…
We studied solvent-driven ordering dynamics of block copolymer films supported by a densely cross-linked polymer network designed as organic hard mask (HM) for lithographic fabrications. The ordering of microphase separated domains at low…
The effective entrapment of Carbon dots (CDs) into a polymer-silica hybrid matrix, formed as free standing transparent flexible films, is presented. CDs of 3 nm mean size with strong photoluminescence are embedded into a silica matrix…
Healthy articular cartilage has excellent lubricating properties, with friction coefficients reaching extremely low values at physiological pressures. Such high-performing lubricating layer in joints is attributed to the surface hydration…
The assembly of arbitrary 3D structures using nano- to micron-scale colloidal building blocks has broad applications in photonics, electronics, and biology. Combining optical tweezers (OT) with two-photon polymerization (TPP) enables 3D…
Piezoionic hydrogels offer a route to mechanically driven bioelectronic interfaces, but their output is limited by rapid, symmetric ion redistribution that dissipates charge gradients. In biological electrocytes, efficient signal generation…
Amphiphilic polymer co-networks (APCNs) provide a large toolbox for tuning coatings important for applications such as bio-interfaces. Therefore, we investigate the influence of network composition and environmental conditions on the…
Phototaxis is a light driven self-locomotion of mass and a common phenomenon in motile organisms with varieties of motility such as in bacteria, algae, etc. In naturally occurring organisms, mechanical force is generated utilising their…
Collagen networks provide the main structural component of most tissues and represent an important ingredient for bio-mimetic materials for bio-medical applications. Here we study the mechanical properties of stiff collagen networks derived…