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The interplay between shape anisotropy and directed long-range interactions enables the self-assembly of complex colloidal structures. As a recent highlight, ellipsoidal particles polarized in an external electric field were observed to…
The dynamics of drop impact on solid surfaces can be changed significantly by tuning the elasticity of the solid. Most prominently, the substrate deformation causes an increase in the splashing threshold as compared to impact onto perfectly…
The biological membrane, which compartmentalizes the cell and its organelles, exhibit wide variety of macroscopic shapes of varying morphology and topology. A systematic understanding of the relation of membrane shapes to composition,…
Dielectric elastomers (DEs) are a type of multifunctional materials with salient features that are very attractive in developing soft, lightweight, and small-scale transducers and robotics. This paper reviews the mechanics of soft DE…
Encapsulation of chemicals using polymer membranes enables to control their transport and delivery for applications such as agrochemistry or detergency. To rationalize the design of polymer capsules, it is necessary to understand how the…
Thin film dynamics and associated instability mechanisms have triggered a wide range of scientific innovations, as attributed to their abilities of creating fascinating patterns over small scales. Here, we demonstrate a new thin film…
We describe a numerical method to simulate an elastic shell immersed in a viscous incompressible fluid. The method is developed as an extension of the immersed boundary method using shell equations based on the Kirchhoff-Love and the planar…
We develop a self-consistent free-energy framework in which membrane shape and osmotic pressure are determined simultaneously in a finite reservoir by minimizing bending elasticity and solute entropy. Solute conservation makes osmotic…
All-solid-state batteries are seen as promising candidates to replace conventional batteries with liquid electrolytes in many applications. However, they are not yet feasible for many relevant applications. One particular question of…
The molecular arrangement of lipids and proteins within biomembranes and monolayers gives rise to complex film morphologies as well as regions of distinct electrical surface potential, topographical and electrostatic nanoscale domains. To…
The deformation of an elastic micro-capsule in an infinite shear flow is studied numerically using a spectral method. The shape of the capsule and the hydrodynamic flow field are expanded into smooth basis functions. Analytic expressions…
While fluids near a solid surface are at the core of applications in energy storage/conversion, electrochemistry/electrowetting and adsorption/catalysis, their nanoscale behavior remains only partially deciphered. Beyond conventional…
The dynamics of a spherical elastic capsule, containing a Newtonian fluid bounded by an elastic membrane and immersed in another Newtonian fluid, in a uniform DC electric field is investigated. Discontinuity of electrical properties such as…
We study avenues to shape multistability and shape-morphing in flexible crystalline membranes of cylindrical topology, enabled by glide mobility of dislocations. Using computational modeling, we obtain states of mechanical equilibrium…
The physics of an electron solid, held on a cryogenic liquid surface by a pressing electric field, is examined in a low-density regime that has not been explored before. We consider the effect of the pressing field in distorting the surface…
Liquid shells (e.g. double emulsions, vesicles etc.) are susceptible to interfacial instability and rupturing when driven out of mechanical equilibrium. This poses a significant challenge for the design of liquid shell based micro-machines,…
Morphologies of a vesicle confined in a spherical vesicle were explored experimentally by fast confocal laser microscopy and numerically by a dynamically-triangulated membrane model with area-difference elasticity. The confinement was found…
The shape of metal nanoparticles embedded in dielectric matrices influences the optical properties of the composite material. Swift heavy ion irradiation can induce a controllable shape transformation in gold and other metals embedded in…
This research introduces a new drop fluidics, which uses a deformable and stretchable elastomeric film as the platform, instead of the commonly used rigid supports. Such a soft film impregnated with magnetic particles can be modulated with…
An elastomer swelling actuator deforms by absorbing a fluid, thus generating mechanical movement. We show that depositing small droplets of low molecular weight liquid crystal on liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) films leads to shape changes…