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Stimuli-responsive lyogels are considered to be smart materials due to their capability of undergoing significant macroscopic changes in response to external triggers. Due to their versatile and unique properties, smart lyogels exhibit…
PNIPAm microgels synthesized via free radical polymerization (FRP) are often considered as neutral colloids in aqueous media, although it is well known, since the pioneering work of Pelton and coworkers [Langmuir 1989, 5, 816-818], that the…
We study the swelling and shrinking behavior of core-shell microgels adsorbed on silicon wafers. In these systems, the core is made of cross-linked poly(N isopropylmethacrylamide) and the shell consists of cross linked poly(N-n…
The long debated protein dynamical transition was recently found also in non-biological macromolecules, such as poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAM) microgels. Here, by using atomistic molecular dynamics simulations, we report a description…
Nanostructured polymer-metal oxide composites are a current research area of great importance due to its highlight applications in sensors, optics, catalysts and drug delivery. Particularly the use of thermoresponsive polymers gives more…
Stimuli-responsive lyogels are known for their ability to undergo significant macroscopic changes when exposed to external stimuli. While thermo-responsive gels, such as poly N isopropylacrylamide (pNIPAM), have been extensively studied…
We describe a microscope-based optical setup that allows us to perform space-and time-resolved measurements of the spectral reflectance of transparent substrates coated with ultrathin films. This technique is applied to investigate the…
Responsive poly-N-isopropylacrylamide-based microgels are commonly used as model colloids with soft repulsive interactions. It has been shown that the microgel-microgel interaction in solution can be easily adjusted by varying the…
We report on the delamination of thin ($\approx \mu$m) hydrogel films grafted to silicon substrates under the action of swelling stresses. Poly(dimetylacrylamide) (PDMA) films are synthesized by simultaneously cross-linking and grafting…
We investigate the temperature dependent phase behaviour of mixtures of poly(Nisopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAM) microgel colloids and a triblock copolymer (PEO-PPO-PEO) surfactant, which undergoes micellisation. Gelation in these systems…
Density of the polyacrylamide ultrathin films has been studied using X-ray reflectivity technique. Two sources (one powder and another aqueous solution) of polyacrylamide were used to prepare spin coated films on silicon substrate. Light…
Immediately before adsorption to a horizontal substrate, sinking polymer-coated colloids can undergo a complex sequence of landing, jumping, crawling and rolling events. Using video tracking we studied the soft adhesion to a horizontal flat…
The peculiar linear temperature-dependent swelling of core-shell microgels has been conjectured to be linked to the core-shell architecture combining materials of different transition temperatures. Here the structure of pNIPMAM-core and…
The volume phase transition of microgels is one of the most paradigmatic examples of stimuli-responsiveness, enabling a collapse from a highly swollen microgel state into a densely coiled state by an external stimulus. Although well…
We investigated the complexation of thermoresponsive anionic poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNiPAM) microgels and cationic $\epsilon$-polylysine ($\epsilon$-PLL) chains. By combining electrophoresis, light scattering, transmission electron…
Metal mixed polymers are a cheap and effective way to produce flexible metals and superconductors. As part of an on-going effort to learn how to tune the properties of these systems with ion implantation, we present a study of the…
As a novel stimulus, we used high-frequency ultrasonic waves to provide the required energy for breaking hydrogen bonds between Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) and water molecules while the solution temperature maintains below the…
We construct colloidal ``sticky'' rods from the semi-flexible filamentous fd virus and temperature-sensitive polymers poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM). The phase diagram of fd-PNIPAM system becomes independent of ionic strength at high…
We present results from extensive molecular dynamics simulations of collapse transitions of hydrophobic polymers in explicit water focused on understanding effects of lengthscale of the hydrophobic surface and of attractive interactions on…
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…