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We use a simple and efficient computer model to investigate the physical properties of bilayer membranes. The amphiphilic molecules are modeled as short rigid trimers with finite range pair interactions between them. The pair potentials…
We propose a nonlinear extension of the standard tube model for semidilute solutions of freely-sliding semiflexible polymers. Non-affine filament deformations at the entanglement scale, the renormalisation of direct interactions by thermal…
Polymers and rod-like colloids (PaRC) adopt a favorable orientation under sufficiently strong flows. However, how the flow kinematics affect the alignment of such nanostructures according to their extensibility remains unclear. By analysing…
Constancy of life vitally depends on the internalization of particles through biomembranes. Of particular interest, cellular uptake, including phagocytosis, receptor-mediated endocytosis, and membrane fusion, critically depends on the…
We analyse the flow curves of a two-dimensional assembly of granular particles which are interacting via frictional contact forces. For packing fractions slightly below jamming, the fluid undergoes a large scale instability, implying a…
In multi-component soft matter, interface properties often play a key role in determining the properties of the overall system. The identification of the internal dynamic structures in non-equilibrium situations requires the interface…
Bioclogging, the clogging of pores with living particles, is a complex process that involves various coupled mechanisms such as hydrodynamics and particle properties. This article explores bioclogging at the microscale level. At this scale,…
Shear flow is known to induce huge density fluctuations in otherwise clear and uniform polymer solutions. This effect is rooted in the elasticity of the entangled polymer network, and can span distances over a thousand chains wide. It has…
The presence of long-ranged correlations in a fluid undergoing uniform shear flow is investigated. An exact relation between the density autocorrelation function and the density-mometum correlation function implies that the former must…
The process of adsorption on a planar wall of long-flexible polymer chains in the medium with quenched long-range correlated disorder is investigated. We focus on the case of correlations between defects or impurities that decay according…
The properties of the interface in a phase-separated solution of polymers with different degrees of polymerization and Kuhn segment lengths are calculated. The starting point is the planar interface, the profile of which is calculated in…
Soft membranes are commonly employed in shape-morphing applications, where the material is programmed to achieve a target shape upon activation by an external trigger, and as coating layers that alter the surface characteristics of bulk…
The conformation of a long linear polymer dissolved in fluid and exposed to an extensional flow is well-known to exhibit a "coil-stretch" transition, which for sufficiently long chains can lead to bistability. The present work reports…
The dynamic behavior of the slip length in a fluid flow confined between atomically smooth surfaces is investigated using molecular dynamics simulations. At weak wall-fluid interactions, the slip length increases nonlinearly with the shear…
The behavior of polyampholytes near a charged planar surface is studied by means of Monte Carlo simulations. The investigated polyampholytes are overall electrically neutral and made up of oppositely charged units (called blocks) that are…
A theoretical model is developed for predicting dynamic polymer depletion effects under the influence of fluid flow. The results are established by combining the two-fluid model and the self-consistent field theory. We consider a uniform…
Adhesion requires molecular contact, and natural adhesives employ mechanical gradients to achieve complete (conformal) contact to maximize adhesion. Intuitively, one expects that the higher the modulus of the top layer, the lower will be…
We have generalized the Edwards' method of collective description of dense polymer systems in terms of effective potentials to polymer blends in the presence of a surface. With this method we have studied conformationally asymmetric…
The shear rate dependence of the slip length in thin polymer films confined between atomically flat surfaces is investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. The polymer melt is described by the bead-spring model of linear flexible…
The mechanical behaviour and symmetry-breaking shape deformation of red blood cells subjected to shear flows is used to demonstrate that far from being random fluids, both the membrane and cytoplasm of every biological cell undergo…