Related papers: Interfacial silica nanoparticles stabilize coconti…
We explore the conditions under which colloids can be stabilized by the addition of smaller particles. The largest repulsive barriers between colloids occur when the added particles repel each other with soft interactions, leading to an…
The rheology of cohesive granular materials, under a constant pressure condition, is studied using molecular dynamics simulations. Depending on the shear rate, pressure, and interparticle cohesiveness, the system exhibits four distinctive…
We model the stabilization of clusters and lattices of cuboidal particles with long-ranged magnetic dipolar and short-ranged surface interactions. Two realistic systems were considered: one with magnetization orientated in the [001]…
A polymer shell offers a unique opportunity to tailor structural and optical properties of optically functional nanoparticles and their ensembles. Here, we develop a process to coat Mie-resonant silicon nanospheres (Si NSs) with a…
We use computer simulations to investigate how a catalytic reaction in a polymer sol can induce the formation of a polymer gel. To this aim we consider a solution of homopolymers in which freely-diffusing catalysts convert the originally…
We examine the behavior of spherical silica particles trapped at an air-nematic liquid crystal interface. When a strong normal anchoring is imposed, the beads spontaneously form various structures depending on their area density and the…
We report an experimental study on the drying of silica colloidal dispersions. Here we focus on a surface instability occurring in a drying paste phase before crack formation which affects the final film quality. Observations at macroscopic…
The interaction of amphiphilic polymers with small colloids, capable to reversibly stick onto the chains, is studied. Adhesive small colloids in solution are able to dynamically bind two polymer segments. This association leads to…
We study the stability of a model Pickering emulsion system. A special counter-flow microfluidics set-up was used to prepare monodisperse Pickering emulsions, with oil droplets in water. The wettability of the monodisperse silica…
The organization of nano-particles inside grafted polymer layers is governed by the interplay of polymer-induced entropic interactions and the action of externally applied fields. Earlier work had shown that strong external forces can drive…
We are presenting a new method of processing polystyrene-silica nanocomposites, which results in a very well-defined dispersion of small primary aggregates (assembly of 15 nanoparticles of 10 nm diameter) in the matrix. The process is based…
The measurement of interfacial mechanical or rheological properties in polymer blends is a challenging task, as well as providing a quantitative link between these properties and the interfacial nanostructure. Here, we perform a systematic…
We investigate the conformation, position, and dynamics of core-shell nanoparticles (CSNPs) composed of a silica core encapsulated in a cross-linked poly-N-isopropylacrylamide shell at a water-oil interface for a systematic range of core…
We examine the organization and dynamics of binary colloidal monolayers composed of micron-scale silica particles interspersed with smaller-diameter silica particles that serve as minority component impurities. These binary monolayers are…
Inhibition of bubble coalescence in electrolyte solutions enables the formation of oceanic whitecaps and affects the heat and mass transfer in many bubble related engineering processes. For different electrolytes, the ability to inhibit…
We carry out numerical simulations of vesicle formation based on the density functional theory for block copolymer solutions. It is shown by solving the time evolution equations for concentrations that a polymer vesicle is spontaneously…
The environmental risks posed by traditional oil and grease-based lubricants can be significantly mitigated by adopting water-based alternatives engineered with superior rheological performance. In this work, we present a fundamentally new…
A mesoscopic model of a diblock copolymer is used to study the stability of a uniform lamellar phase under a reciprocating shear flow. Approximate viscosity contrast between the microphases is allowed through a linear dependence of the…
Nanoparticles can influence the properties of polymer materials by a variety of mechanisms. With fullerene, carbon nanotube, and clay or graphene sheet nanocomposites in mind, we investigate how particle shape influences the melt shear…
Orientational and positional ordering properties of liquid crystal monolayers are examined by means of Fundamental-Measure Density Functional Theory. Particles forming the monolayer are modeled as hard parallelepipeds of square section of…