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We study the hydrodynamic interactions between colloids suspended in a compressible fluid inside a rigid channel. Using lattice-Boltzmann simulations and a simplified hydrodynamic theory, we find that the diffusive dynamics of density…
The formation of clusters in supercooled liquids close to the glass transition temperature is described by rate equations in which the coefficients are determined on physical grounds rather than in terms of thermodynamic quantities such as…
All liquids (except helium due to quantum effects) crystallize at low temperatures, forming ordered structures. The competition between disorder, which stabilizes the liquid phase, and energy, which favors the ordered crystalline structure,…
We present a full hydrodynamical investigation of a system of self-contained, interacting gas `cloudlets'. Calculations are performed using SPH, and cloudlets are allowed to collide, dissipate kinetic energy, merge and undergo local…
We present Monte Carlo simulations of colloidal particles pulled into grafted polymer layers by external fields. The insertion free energy of a single colloid into the polymer layer is qualitatively different for surfaces with an ordered…
Molecular dynamics simulations have been employed to study the formation of a physical (thermoreversible) gel by amphiphilic A-B-A triblock copolymers in aqueous solution. In order to mimic the structure of hydrogel-forming polypeptides…
A theoretical and numerically study of dynamical properties in the sol-gel transition is presented. In particular, the complex phenomenology observed experimentally and numerically in gelling systems is reproduced in the framework of…
We demonstrate a simple method by which time-dependent interactions can be exploited to improve self-assembly in colloidal systems. We apply this method to two systems: a model colloid with short-ranged attractive potentials that undergoes…
Soft pair potentials predict a reentrant liquid phase for high concentrations, a behavior not observed experimentally. Here, very soft microgels confined at an oil-water interface are used as a model system of particles interacting via a…
The crystallization of proteins or colloids is often hindered by the appearance of aggregates of low fractal dimension called gels. Here we study the effect of electrostatics upon crystal and gel formation using an analytic model of hard…
Within the mode-coupling theory for ideal glass-transitions, the mean-squared displacement and the correlation function for density fluctuations are evaluated for a colloidal liquid of particles interacting with a square-well potential for…
The erythrocyte sedimentation rate is one of the oldest medical diagnostic methods whose physical mechanisms remain debatable up to date. Using both light microscopy and mesoscale cell-level simulations, we show that erythrocytes form a…
Colloids dispersed in nematic liquid crystals form topological composites in which colloid-associated defects mediate interactions while adhering to fundamental topological constraints. Better realising the promise of such materials…
We report numerical results for the effective potential arising between two colloids immersed in a self-assembling cosolute which forms reversible clusters. The potential is evaluated at cosolute state points with different densities and…
Mode-coupling theory (MCT) predicts arrest of colloids in terms of their volume fraction, and the range and depth of the interparticle attraction. We discuss how effective values of these parameters evolve under cluster aggregation. We…
The mechanical properties of crystalline materials can be substantially modified under confinement. Such modified macroscopic properties are usually governed by the altered microstructures and internal stress fields. Here, we use a parallel…
Colloidal particles or nanoparticles, with equal affinity for two fluids, are known to adsorb irreversibly to the fluid-fluid interface. We present large-scale computer simulations of the demixing of a binary solvent containing such…
We report experimental and computational observations of dynamic contact networks for colloidal suspensions undergoing shear thickening. The dense suspensions are comprised of sterically stabilized poly(methyl methacrylate) hard sphere…
Concentrated suspensions of small ultra-soft colloids (ultra-low crosslinked microgels) are investigated with scattering and steady shear rheology to capture their equilibrium dynamics. The suspensions lack dynamic arrest, although the slow…
We investigate the slow dynamics in gelling systems by means of MonteCarlo simulations on the cubic lattice of a minimal statistical mechanics model. By opportunely varying some model parameter we are able to describe a crossover from the…