Related papers: Shape variation of micelles in polymer thin films
We use molecular dynamics computer simulations to study the equilibrium properties of the surface of amorphous silica. Two types of geometries are investigated: i) clusters with different diameters (13.5\AA, 19\AA, and 26.5\AA) and ii) a…
We study the self-assembly on a spherical surface of a model for a binary mixture of amphiphilic dimers in the presence of guest particles via Monte Carlo (MC) computer simulation. All particles have a hard core, but one monomer of the…
We present an analytical and computational study characterizing the structural and dynamical properties of an active filament confined in cylindrical channels. We first outline the effects of the interplay between confinement and polar…
A crystal lattice, when confined to the surface of a cylinder, must have a periodic structure that is commensurate with the cylinder circumference. This constraint can frustrate the system, leading to oblique crystal lattices or to…
Monodisperse circular disks have been collectively packed in confined geometries using a Monte Carlo method where the compaction is propelled by two- dimensional stochastic agitation. We have found that confinement (i.e., finite-size plus…
Geometric confinement plays an important role in the dynamics of natural and synthetic microswimmers from bacterial cells to self-propelled particles in high-throughput microfluidic devices. However, little is known about the effects of…
Micelle formation in binary mixtures of surfactants is studied using a coarse-grained molecular simulation. When a vesicle composed of lipid and detergent types of molecules is ruptured, a disk-shaped micelle, the bicelle, is typically…
The crystal growth of isotactic polystyrene (it-PS) is investigated in very thin, 11 nm thick films. The it-PS crystals grown in the thin films show quite different morphology from that in the bulk. With decreasing crystallization…
Microgels are colloidal-scale particles individually made of crosslinked polymer networks that can swell and deswell in response to external stimuli, such as changes to temperature or pH. Despite a large amount of experimental activities on…
The instability, dynamics and morphological transitions of patterns in thin liquid films on periodic striped surfaces (consisting of alternating less and more wettable stripes) are investigated based on 3-D nonlinear simulations that…
The interfacial profile between coexisting phases of a binary mixture (A,B) in a thin film of thickness D and lateral linear dimensions L depends sensitively on both linear dimensions and on the nature of boundary conditions and statistical…
The surface morphologies of poly(chloro-p-xylylene) films were measured using atomic force microscopy and analyzed within the frame work of the dynamic scaling theory. The evolution of polymer films grown with fixed experimental parameters…
The phase behaviour of binary blends composed of A$_1$B$_1$ and A$_2$B$_2$ diblock copolymers is systematically studied using the polymeric self-consistent field theory, focusing on the formation and relative stability of various spherical…
We present experiments to study the relaxation of a nano-scale cylindrical perturbation at one of the two interfaces of a thin viscous free-standing polymeric film. Driven by capillarity, the film flows and evolves towards equilibrium by…
Thin films formed from small molecules rapidly gain importance in different technological fields. To explain their growth, methods developed for zero--dimensional atoms as the film forming particles are applied. However, in organic thin…
A microscopic model is proposed for the interactions between sickle hemoglobin molecules based on information from the protein data bank. A Monte Carlo simulation of a simplified two patch model is carried out, with the goal of…
Nano-scale confinement of polymer in cone-shaped geometries occurs in many experimental situations. A flexible polymer confined in a cone-shaped nano-channel is studied theoretically and using molecular dynamics simulations. Distribution of…
We use molecular dynamics (MD) to simulate an unstable homogeneous mixture of binary fluids (AB), confined in a slit pore of width $D$. The pore walls are assumed to be flat and structureless, and attract one component of the mixture (A)…
The atomic-scale spin structure of individual isolated skyrmions in an ultrathin film is investigated in real space by spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy. Their axial symmetry as well as their unique rotational sense is revealed…
Thin elastic solids are easily deformed into a myriad of three-dimensional shapes, which may contain sharp localized structures as in a crumpled candy wrapper, or have smooth and diffuse features like the undulating edge of a flower.…