Related papers: Formation and Rupture of Ca$^{2+}$ Induced Pectin …
We study a two-component model for gelation consisting of $f$-functional monomers (the gel) and inert particles (the solvent). After equilibration as a simple liquid, the gel particles are gradually crosslinked to each other until the…
The resistance to fracture of reversible biopolymer hydrogels is an important control factor of the cutting/slicing and eating characteristics of food gels. It is also critical for their utilization in tissue engineering, for which…
We present dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements of soft polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) and polyacrylamide(PA) polymer gels prepared with trapped bodies (latex spheres or maghemite nanoparticles). We show that the anomalous…
We investigate the dynamics of alginate gels, an important class of biopolymer-based viscoelastic materials, by combining mechanical tests and non-conventional, time-resolved light scattering methods. Two relaxation modes are observed upon…
By means of Langevin dynamics simulations, we investigate the gel formation of randomly functionalized polymers in solution, with the ability to form both intra- and intermolecular reversible bonds. Under highly dilute conditions, these…
Charged colloidal particles can self-assemble into gel networks upon screening of electrostatic repulsion by added salt. While gelation of spherical colloids has been extensively studied, much less is known about the gelation dynamics of…
We study the salt-dependent conformations of dilute flexible polyelectrolytes in solution via computer simulations. Low concentrations of multivalent salt induce the known conformational collapse of individual polyelectrolyte chains, but as…
In the scientific literature little attention has been given to the use of dynamic light scattering (DLS) as a tool for extracting the thermodynamic information contained in the absolute intensity of light scattered by gels. In this article…
We present results of molecular dynamics simulations of strong, flexible polyelectrolyte chains in solution with added salt. The effect of added salt on the polyelectrolyte chain structure is fully treated for the first time as a function…
Salt is a very common molecule in aqueous environments but the question of whether the interactions of monovalent ions Na^+ and Cl^- ,with the neutral heads of phospholipids are impactful enough to change the membrane rigidity is still a…
The behavior of cross-linking polymer solutions as they transition from liquid-like to solid-like material in flow determines success or failure in several applications. Dilute polymer solutions flow easily, while concentrated polymers or…
It is well-known that the swelling behavior of ionic nanogels depends on their cross-link density, however it is unclear how different topologies should affect the response of the polyelectrolyte network. Here we perform Monte Carlo…
Suspensions of calcite in water are employed in many industrial fields such as paper filling, pharmaceutics, heritage conservation or building construction, where the rheological properties of the paste need to be controlled. We measure the…
Hydrogels are increasingly recognized as a versatile platform for applications spanning from tissue engineering to soft robotics or flexible electronics. Recent efforts have focused on enhancing and tailoring their mechanical performance to…
We investigated mixed-protein gels made from sodium caseinate and ovalbumin at different ratios with use of the acidification agent glucono-$\delta$-lactone. Dynamic viscoelastic measurements revealed that increasing the ovalbumin content…
We consider a model for gelation of rigid rods, in which rods that are initially placed at random undergo diffusion, and form cross-links when they collide. In the limit of point-like cross-links, the number N of croslinks per rod…
Colloidal gels are out of equilibrium soft solids composed of attractive Brownian particles that form a space-spanning network at low volume fractions. The elastic properties of these systems result from the network microstructure, which is…
Rigidity percolation (RP) is the emergence of mechanical stability in networks. Motivated by the experimentally observed fractal nature of materials like colloidal gels and disordered fiber networks, we study RP in a fractal network.…
An increasing number of proteins with intrinsically disordered domains have been shown to phase separate in buffer to form liquid-like phases. These protein condensates serve as simple models for the investigation of the more complex…
In concentrated electrolytes with asymmetric or irregular ions, such as ionic liquids and solvent-in-salt electrolytes, ion association is more complicated than simple ion-pairing. Large branched aggregates can form at significant…