Related papers: Structure and Dynamics of Solvated Polymers near a…
Explicit molecular dynamics simulations were applied to a pair of amorphous silica nanoparticles in aqueous solution, of diameter 4.4 nm with four different background electrolyte concentrations, to extract the mean force acting between the…
We report on the frictional properties of thin ($\approx \mu m$) poly(dimethylacrylamide) hydrogel films within contacts with spherical silica probes. In order to focus on the contribution to friction of interfacial dissipation, a dedicated…
We examine the dynamics of silica particles grafted with high molecular weight polystyrene suspended in semidilute solutions of chemically similar linear polymer using x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy. The particle dynamics decouple…
Structure and dynamics of an active polymer on a smooth cylindrical surface are studied by Brownian dynamics simulations. The effect of active force on the polymer adsorption behavior and the combined effect of chain mobility, length N,…
This paper presents a study of the polymer-filler interfacial effects on filler dispersion and mechanical reinforcement in Polystyrene (PS) / silica nanocomposites by direct comparison of two model systems: un-grafted and PS-grafted silica…
Deformable colloids and macromolecules adsorb at interfaces, as they decrease the interfacial energy between the two media. The deformability, or softness, of these particles plays a pivotal role in the properties of the interface. In this…
Fundamental understanding of macroscopic properties of polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) remains difficult due to the complex interplay of microscopic dynamics and structure, namely interfacial layer relaxations and three-dimensional…
Explicit molecular dynamics simulations were applied to a pair of amorphous silica nanoparticles of diameter 3.2 nm immersed in a background electrolyte. Mean forces acting between the pair of silica nanoparticles were extracted at four…
The surface tension of interacting polymers in a good solvent is calculated theoretically and by computer simulations for a planar wall geometry and for the insertion of a single colloidal hard-sphere. This is achieved for the planar wall…
Understanding confined flows of complex fluids requires simultaneous access to the mechanical behaviour of the liquid and the boundary condition at the interfaces. Here, we use evanescent wave microscopy to investigate near-surface flows of…
We present results from molecular dynamics simulations of a spherically confined neutral polymer in the presence of crowding agents, studying polymer shapes and conformations as a function of the confining potential, solvent quality and the…
We propose that several mechanisms contribute to friction in a polymer melt adsorbed at a structured surface. The first one is the well known disentanglement of bulk polymer chains from the surface layer. However, if the surface is ideal at…
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…
A study of the reinforcement effect of a soft polymer matrix by hard nanometric filler particles is presented. In the main part of this article, the structure of the silica filler in the matrix is studied by Small Angle Neutron Scattering…
Molecular dynamics simulations and a stochastic Fokker-Planck equation based approach are used to illuminate how position-dependent solvent mobility near one or more tracer particle(s) is affected when tracer-solvent interactions are…
The collapse and swelling behavior of a generic homopolymer is studied using implicit-solvent, explicit-cosolvent Langevin dynamics computer simulations for varying interaction strengths. The systematic investigation reveals that polymer…
Using video-microscopy imaging we demonstrate the existence of a short-ranged equilibrium attraction between heavy silica colloids diffusing on soft surfaces of cross-linked polymer gels. The inter-colloid potential can be tuned by changing…
We report adaptive resolution molecular dynamics simulations of a flexible linear polymer in solution. The solvent, i.e., a liquid of tetrahedral molecules, is represented within a certain radius from the polymer's center of mass with a…
The adsorption of a collagen fragment on both a hydrophobic, hydrogen-terminated and a hydrophilic, natively oxidised Si surface is investigated using all-atom molecular dynamics. While favourable direct protein-surface interactions via…
To prevent the flocculation and phase separation of nanoparticles in solution, nanoparticles are often functionalized with short chain surfactants. Here we present fully-atomistic molecular dynamics simulations which characterize how these…