Related papers: Numerical modelling of non-ionic microgels: an ove…
Many suspensions contain particles with complex shapes that are affected not only by hydrodynamics, but also by thermal fluctuations, internal kinematic constraints and other long-range non-hydrodynamic interactions. Modeling these systems…
Ionic microgel particles, when dispersed in a solvent, swell to equilibrium sizes that are governed by a balance between electrostatic and elastic forces. Tuning of particle size by varying external stimuli, such as $p$H, salt…
Chain-like macromolecules (polymers) show characteristic adsorption properties due to their flexibility and internal degrees of freedom, when attracted to surfaces and interfaces. In this review we discuss concepts and features that are…
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…
Stabilization and dispersion of electrical charge by colloids in non-polar media, such as nano-particles or inverse micelles, is significant for a variety of chemical and technological applications, ranging from drug delivery to e-ink. Many…
Although coarse-grained models have been widely used to explain exotic phenomena in complex fluids, such as droplet formation in living cells, these conventional approaches often fail to capture the intricate microscopic degrees of freedom…
The thermosensitive behavior of microgel particles suspended in solvents, i.e. their temperature-dependent swelling properties, has triggered ongoing interest in industry and academia over the past forty years. The most-studied polymer is…
Ultra-low-crosslinked (ULC) microgels are among the softest colloidal particles nowadays routinely synthesized experimentally. Despite a growing literature of experimental results, their microscopic behavior under crowded conditions is yet…
Microplasmas are operated around atmospheric pressure exhibiting pronounced non-equilibrium characteristics, i.e. they possess energetic electrons while ions and neutrals remain cold. They have gained significant interest due to their…
Size and shape are critical discriminators between molecular species and states. We describe a micro-chip based high-throughput imaging approach offering rapid and precise determination of molecular properties under native solution…
We discuss a class of models for particulate gels in which the particle contacts are described by an effective interaction combining a two-body attraction and a three-body angular repulsion. Using molecular dynamics, we show how varying the…
The macroscopic mechanical properties of densely packed coagulated colloidal particle gels strongly depend on the local arrangement of the powder particles on length scales of a few particle diameters. Heterogeneous microstructures exhibit…
In this note microgels with and without excluded volume interactions are considered. Based on earlier exact computations on Gaussian mircogels, which are formed by self-crosslinking (with $M$ crosslinks) of polymer chains with chain length…
A coarse-grained multi-blob description of polymer solutions is presented, based on soft, transferable effective interactions between bonded and non-bonded blobs. The number of blobs is chosen such that the blob density does not exceed…
In this work a new density functional theory framework is developed to predict the salt-concentration dependent swelling state of charged microgels and the local concentration of monovalent ions inside and outside the microgel. For this…
Ionic microcapsules are hollow shells of hydrogel, typically 10-1000 nm in radius, composed of cross-linked polymer networks that become charged and swollen in a good solvent. The ability of microcapsules to swell/deswell in response to…
Ionic liquids are a special category of molten salts with melting points near ambient temperatures or by convention below 100 C. Owing to their numerous valuable physicochemical properties as bulk liquids, solvents, at surfaces and in…
We use dedicated microfluidic devices to expose soft hydrogel particles to a rapid change in the externally applied osmotic pressure and observe a non-monotonic response: After an initial rapid compression the particle slowly reswells to…
The thermosensitivity and microstructure of microgels made by copolymerizing standard microgel-forming monomers with more hydrophilic comonomers is investigated, with the aim of increasing the volume phase transition temperature (VPTT). We…
Soft particles such as microgels and core-shell particles can undergo significant and anisotropic deformations when adsorbed to a liquid interface. This, in turn, leads to a complex phase behavior upon compression. Here we develop a…