Related papers: Modelling microgels with controlled structure acro…
The design of complex materials and the formation of specific patterns often arise from the properties of the individual building blocks. In this respect, colloidal systems offer a unique opportunity because nowadays they can be synthesized…
Plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) integrated within thermoresponsive polymeric microgels provide a versatile platform for the realization of stimuli-responsive optical materials, where the microgel volume phase transition enables dynamic…
It is well-known that the architecture of macromolecules plays an important role in the hydrodynamics and viscosity of its semi-diluted solutions. However, the systematic study of the rheology of macromolecules with complex topology, such…
Solutions of microgels have been widely used as model systems to gain insight into atomic condensed matter and complex fluids. We explore the thermodynamic phase behavior of hollow microgels, which are distinguished from conventional…
The behavior of microgels near surfaces and their adsorption is studied by simple scaling theory. Two different types of microgels can be studied, i.e., fractal type microgels and randomly crosslinked polymer chains. In the first case the…
Microstructured materials, such as architected metamaterials and phononic crystals, exhibit complex wave propagation phenomena due to their internal structure. While full-scale numerical simulations can capture these effects, they are…
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 intersection volume of two independent 2-level cut Gaussian random fields is proposed to model the open-cell microstructure of organic aerogels. The experimentally measured X-ray scattering intensity, surface area and solid thermal…
The transport of soft viscoelastic gels through confined geometries underlies critical processes in biomedical, biological, and industrial systems. Here, we examine the translocation of a spherical microgel through a narrow capillary whose…
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…
Micrometre sized colloidal particles can be viewed as large atoms with tailorable size, shape and interactions. These building blocks can assemble into extremely rich structures and phases, in which the thermal motions of particles can be…
A diffuse-interface model for microstructure with an arbitrary number of components and phases was developed from basic thermodynamic and kinetic principles and formalized within a variational framework. The model includes a composition…
Microgels are elastic and deformable particles with a hybrid nature between that of polymers and colloids and unconventional behaviours with respect to hard colloids. We investigated the dynamics of a soft microgel made of interpenetrated…
Responsive poly-N-isopropylacrylamide-based microgels are commonly used as model colloids with soft repulsive interactions. It has been shown that the microgel-microgel interaction in solution can be easily adjusted by varying the…
We study volume transition phenomenon in hydrogels within the framework of Flory-Rehner thermodynamic modelling; we show that starting from different models for the Flory parameter different conclusions can be achieved, in terms of…
Two of the most challenging tasks in molecular simulation consist in capturing the properties of systems with long-range interactions (e.g. electrolyte solutions) as well as systems containing large molecules such as hydrogels. For the…
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…
In this paper we present the results of a large-scale numerical investigation of structural properties of a model of cell membrane, simulated as a bilayer of flexible molecules in vacuum. The study was performed by carrying out extensive…
Star-like microgels have recently emerged as a promising class of thermoresponsive soft colloids, that have an internal architecture similar to that of star polymers. Here, we perform extensive monomer-resolved simulations to theoretically…
Soft matter materials and polymers are widely used in the controlled delivery of drugs. Simulation and modeling provide insight at the atomic scale enabling a level of control unavailable to experiments. We present a workflow protocol for…