Related papers: Electrostatics-driven shape transitions in soft sh…
We present a set of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of strongly charged, flexible polyelectrolyte chains under poor solvent conditions in a salt free solution. Structural properties of the chains and of the solutions are reported. By…
The discrete and charge-separated nature of matter - electrons and nuclei - results in local electrostatic fields that are ubiquitous in nanoscale structures and are determined by their shape, material, and environment. Such fields are…
Designing smart devices with tunable shapes has important applications in industrial manufacture. In this paper, we investigate the nonlinear deformation and the morphological transitions between buckling, necking, and snap-through…
Active matter is characterized by its ability to induce motion by self-generated stress. In the case of a solid, such motion can lead to shape transformations. The stress-generating components can be anisotropic endowing the material with…
The kinetics and thermodynamics of structural transformations under pressure depend strongly on particle size due to the influence of surface free energy. By suitable design of surface structure, composition, and passivation it is possible,…
The ordering of nanoparticles into predetermined configurations is of importance to the design of advanced technologies. In this work, we moderate the surface anchoring against the bulk elasticity of liquid crystals to dynamically shape…
Cells offer numerous inspiring examples where proteins and membranes combine to form complex structures that are key to intracellular compartmentalization, cargo transport, and specialization of cell morphology. Despite this wealth of…
Self-encapsulated droplets floating at an oil--air interface undergo striking shape changes during evaporation, including flattening and localized loss of membrane tension leading to crumpling and wrinkling. Here we combine experiments,…
Motivated by the buckling of glassy crusts formed on evaporating droplets of polymer and colloid solutions, we numerically model the deformation and buckling of spherical elastic caps controlled by varying the volume between the shell and…
We develop a computational method for modeling electrostatic interactions of arbitrarily-shaped, polarizable objects on colloidal length scales, including colloids/nanoparticles, polymers, and surfactants, dispersed in explicit ion…
We study the kinematics and dynamics of a highly compliant membrane disk placed head-on in a uniform flow. With increasing flow velocity, the membrane deforms nonlinearly into increasingly parachute-like shapes. These aerodynamically…
We develop a clear theoretical description of radial swelling in virus-like particles which delineates the importance of electrostatic contributions to swelling in absence of any conformational changes. The model couples the elastic…
Recent progress in the understanding of the effect of electrostatics in soft matter is presented. A vast amount of materials contains ions ranging from the molecular scale (e.g., electrolyte) to the meso/macroscopic one (e.g., charged…
In this work, we discuss and numerically validate a strategy to attain reversible macroscopic changes in the wave propagation characteristics of cellular metamaterials with soft microstructures. The proposed cellular architecture is…
Morphogenetic dynamics of tissue sheets require coordinated cell shape changes regulated by global patterning of mechanical forces. Inspired by such biological phenomena, we propose a minimal mechanochemical model based on the notion that…
Unlike macroscopic multistable mechanical systems such as snap bracelets or elastic shells that must be physically manipulated into various conformations, microscopic systems can undergo spontaneous conformation switching between…
Control of physical behaviors of nematic colloids and colloidal crystals has been demonstrated by tuning particle shape, topology, chirality and surface charging. However, the capability of altering physical behaviors of such soft matter…
Elastic crystalline membranes exhibit a buckling transition from sphere to polyhedron. However, their morphologies are restricted to convex polyhedra and are difficult to externally control. Here, we study morphological changes of closed…
Elastic properties and internal states of isotropic sphere packings are studied by numerical simulations. Several numerical protocols to assemble dense configurations are compared. One, which imitates experiments with lubricated contacts,…
Nematic elastomers and glasses are solids that display spontaneous distortion under external stimuli. Recent advances in the synthesis of sheets with controlled heterogeneities have enabled their actuation into non-trivial shapes with…