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Aggregation processes in systems of planar macromolecules and colloids drive a broad range of phenomena in natural systems and soft materials. Depending on chemical architecture, intermolecular interactions in these systems may favor…
We present a microscopic theory that describes the ordering of two distinct ligands on the surface of a faceted nanoparticle. The theory predicts that when one type of ligand is significantly bulkier than all others, the larger ligands…
Using self-consistent field and density-functional theories, we first investigate colloidal self-assembling of colloid/polymer films confined between two soft surfaces grafted by polymers. With the increase of colloidal concentrations, the…
Grafting polymer chains on nanoparticles surfaces is a well-known route to control their self assembly and distribution in a polymer matrix. A wide variety of self assembled structures are achieved by changing the grafting patterns on an…
Star polymers with magnetically functionalized end groups are presented as a novel polymeric system whose morphology, self-aggregation, and orientation can easily be tuned by exposing these macromolecules simultaneously to an external…
Interparticle interactions and bulk properties of colloidal suspensions can be substantially modified by addition of nanoparticles. Extreme asymmetries in size and charge between colloidal particles and nanoparticles present severe…
The presence of nanoparticles in a diblock copolymer leads to changes in the morphology and properties of the matrix and can produce highly organized hybrid materials. The resulting material properties depend not only on the polymer…
The generation of nanoscale square and stripe patterns is of major technological importance since they are compatible with industry-standard electronic circuitry. Recently, a blend of diblock copolymer interacting via hydrogen-bonding was…
Via computer simulations, we demonstrate how a densely grafted layer of polymers, a {\it brush}, could be turned into an efficient switch through chemical modification of some of its end-monomers. In this way, a surface coating with…
We propose a novel class of responsive polymer brushes, where the effective grafting density can be controlled by external stimuli. This is achieved by using end-grafted polymer chains that have an affinity to the substrate. For…
Understanding and controlling self-assembly processes at multiple length scales is vital if we are to design and create advanced materials. In particular, our ability to organise matter on the nanoscale has advanced considerably, but still…
Polymer-grafted nanoparticles are versatile building blocks that self-assemble into a rich diversity of mesostructures. Coarse-grained molecular simulations have commonly accompanied experiments by resolving structure formation pathways and…
The extent of coupling between the folding of a protein and its binding to a substrate varies from protein to protein. Some proteins have highly structured native states in solution, while others are natively disordered and only fold fully…
The interactions between spherical colloids covered with end-grafted polymers (brushes) immersed in a polymer melt are studied theoretically. We show that attractive enthalpic interactions between the two polymer species, characterized by a…
We study the behavior of negatively charged colloids with two positively charged polar caps close to a planar patterned surface. The competition between the different anisotropic components of the particle-particle interaction patterns is…
Functional nanoparticles (NPs) have gained significant attention as a promising application in various fields, including sensor, smart coating, drug delivery, and more. Here, we propose a novel mechanism assisted by machine-learning…
We use computer simulations and simple theoretical models to analyze the morphologies that result when rod-like particles end-attach onto a curved surface, creating a finite-thickness monolayer aligned with the surface normal. This geometry…
The crazing behavior of polymer nanocomposites formed by blending polymer grafted nanoparticles with an entangled polymer melt is studied by molecular dynamics simulations. We focus on the three key differences in the crazing behavior of a…
Colloidal particles are considered ideal building blocks to produce materials with enhanced physical properties. The state-of-the-art techniques for synthesizing these particles provide control over shape, size, and directionality of the…
The thermodynamic properties of gases have been understood primarily through phase diagrams of bulk gases. However, observations of gases confined in a nanometer space have posed a challenge to the principles of classical thermodynamics.…