Related papers: Is directed percolation in colloid-polymer mixture…
In this paper, we explore experimentally the phase behavior of a dense active suspension of self- propelled colloids. In addition to a solid-like and a gas-like phase observed for high and low densities, a novel cluster phase is reported at…
We theoretically study the polarizability and the interactions of neutral complexes consisting of a semi-flexible polyelectrolyte adsorbed onto an oppositely charged spherical colloid. In the systems we studied, the bending energy of the…
The dynamics of colloidal suspension confined within porous materials strongly differs from that in the bulk. In particular, within porous materials, the presence of boundaries with complex shapes entangles the longitudinal and transverse…
Percolation establishes the connectivity of complex networks and is one of the most fundamental critical phenomena for the study of complex systems. On simple networks, percolation displays a second-order phase transition; on multiplex…
A discussion on the viscoelastic properties of weakly attractive colloids and the relation to a newly developed percolation theory is presented. The need for taking into account the particle-particle bond lifetime in order to compare…
We study the kinetics of the liquid-to-crystal transformation and of gel formation in colloidal suspensions of oppositely charged particles. We analyse, by means of both computer simulations and experiments, the evolution of a fluid…
Cells and tissues exert forces and can actively change shape. This strikingly autonomous behavior is powered by the cytoskeleton, which includes an active gel of actin filaments, crosslinks, and myosin molecular motors. Although individual…
We present a numerical study on geometric percolation in liquid dispersions of hard slender colloidal particles subjected to an external orienting field. In the formulation and liquid-state processing of nanocomposite materials, the…
We have measured equilibrium sedimentation profiles in a colloidal model system with confocal microscopy. By tuning the interactions, we have determined the gravitational length in the limit of hard-sphere-like interactions, and using the…
In quasi-two-dimensional experiments with photoelastic particles confined to an annular region, an intruder constrained to move in a circular path halfway between the annular walls experiences stick-slip dynamics. We discuss the response of…
Mixtures of active and passive particles are predicted to exhibit a variety of nonequilibrium phases. Here we report a dynamic clustering phase in mixtures of colloids and motile bacteria. We show that colloidal clustering results from a…
Using Brownian dynamics computer simulations we show that a two-dimensional suspension of self-propelled ("active") colloidal particles crystallizes at sufficiently high densities. Compared to the equilibrium freezing of passive particles…
Simulating percolation and critical phenomena of labelled species inside films composed of single-component linear homogeneous macromolecules using molecular Monte Carlo method in 3 dimensions, we study dependence of these conducting…
Recent experimental results suggest that the E. coli chromosome feels a self-attracting interaction of osmotic origin, and is condensed in foci by bridging interactions. Motivated by these findings, we explore a generic modeling framework…
We present a detailed numerical study of multi-component colloidal gels interacting sterically and obtained by arrested phase separation. Under deformation, we found that the interplay between the different intertwined networks is key.…
Discontinuous shear thickening (DST) is associated with a sharp rise of a suspension's viscosity with increasing applied shear rate. A key signature of DST, highlighted in recent studies, is the very large fluctuations of the measured…
We exploit the controlled drying of millimeter-sized gel beads to investigate isotropic compression of colloidal fractal gels. Using a custom dynamic light scattering setup, we demonstrate that stresses imposed by drying on the bead surface…
We study a dense colloidal suspension confined between two quasiparallel glass plates as a model system for a supercooled liquid in confined geometries. We directly observe the three-dimensional Brownian motion of the colloidal particles…
We study colloidal particle dynamics of a model glass system using confocal and fluorescence microscopy as the sample evolves from a hard-sphere glass to a liquid with attractive interparticle interactions. The transition from hard-sphere…
Using Brownian dynamics simulations, we systematically study the effective interaction between two parallel hard walls in a 2D suspension of self-propelled (active) colloidal hard spheres, and we find that the effective force between two…