Related papers: Soft materials for linear electromechanical energy…
We analyze nonlinear properties of microstructured materials with negative refraction, the so-called left-handed metamaterials. We demonstrate that the hysteresis-type dependence of the magnetic permeability on the field intensity allows…
Theoretical analysis dealing with the interaction of electrons with the polar long-wavelength transverse optical (TO) vibrations is presented. The theory is based on the model of a polar crystal with classical potentials, which takes into…
Soft electronics are a promising and revolutionary alternative for traditional electronics when safe physical interaction between machines and the human body is required. Among various materials architectures developed for producing soft…
Polar nematic liquid crystals have two special features, compared with conventional nematic liquid crystals. First, because of flexoelectricity, the combination of polar order and splay reduces the free energy. Second, because of…
Changes in the mechanical properties of granular materials, induced by variations in the intrinsic compressibility of the particles, are investigated by means of numerical simulations based on the combination of the Finite Element and…
For the first time, new important features of the fluctuation electromagnetic interaction between a small conducting particle and a smooth surface of polarizable medium (both dielectric and metallic) are worked out. The particle is…
Many biological materials consist of sparse networks of disordered fibres, embedded in a soft elastic matrix. The interplay between rigid and soft elements in such composite networks leads to mechanical properties that can go far beyond the…
Designing soft robots poses considerable challenges: automated design approaches may be particularly appealing in this field, as they promise to optimize complex multi-material machines with very little or no human intervention.…
Living cells are soft bodies of a characteristic form, but endowed with a capacity for a steady turnover of their structures. Both of these material properties, i.e. recovery of the shape after an external stress has been imposed and…
The holographic duality has proven successful in linking seemingly unrelated problems in physics.Recently, intriguing correspondences between the physics of soft matter and gravity are emerging,including strong similarities between the…
Piezoelectric fluoropolymers convert mechanical energy to electricity and are ideal for sustainably providing power to electronic devices. To convert mechanical energy, a net polarization must be induced in the fluoropolymer, which is…
Polymeric particles are strong candidates for designing artificial materials capable of emulating the complex twisting-based functionality observed in biological systems. In this letter, we provide the first detailed investigation of the…
Dielectric elastomers are an emerging class of highly deformable electro-active materials employed for electromechanical transduction technology. For practical applications, the design of such transducers requires a model accounting for…
One of the most unique physical features of cell adhesion to external surfaces is the active generation of mechanical force at the cell-material interface. This includes pulling forces generated by contractile polymer bundles and networks,…
We predict a large in-plane polarization response to bending in a broad class of trigonal two-dimensional crystals. We define and compute the relevant flexoelectric coefficients from first principles as linear-response properties of the…
Understanding surface mechanics of soft solids, such as soft polymeric gels, is crucial in many engineering processes, such as dynamic wetting and adhesive failure. In these situations, a combination of capillary and elastic forces drives…
Deployable structures, essential across various engineering applications ranging from umbrellas to satellites, are evolving to include soft, morphable designs where geometry drives transformation. However, a major challenge for soft…
A relationship is derived between differences in electric polarization between bands and the "shift vector" that controls part of a material's bulk photocurrent, then demonstrated in several models. Electric polarization has a quantized…
A wide variety of experimental results and theoretical investigations in recent years have convincingly demonstrated that several transition metal oxides and other materials, have dominant states that are not spatially homogeneous. This…
The usual approach to the development of new nonlinear dielectric materials focuses on the search for materials in which the components possess an inherently large nonlinear dielectric response. In contrast, based on thermodynamics, we have…