Related papers: Deformability and Solvent Penetration in Soft Nano…
We propose an approach to measure surface elastic constants of soft solids. Generally, this requires one to probe interfacial mechanics at around the elastocapillary length scale, which is typically microscopic. Deformations of microscopic…
We study the interaction of small hydrophobic particles on the surface of an ultra-soft elastic gel, in which a small amount of elasticity of the medium balances the weights of the particles. The excess energy of the surface of the deformed…
Soft solids and their surface deformations control the response of many natural and artificial systems. Yet, their underlying properties are vigorously debated, particularly for polymer networks. While molecular-scale theories predict no…
It has recently been proposed that the miscibility of nanoparticles with a polymer matrix can be controlled by grafting polymer chains to the nanoparticle surface. As a first step to study this situation, we have used molecular dynamics…
Large-scale molecular dynamics simulations are used to simulate a layer of nanoparticles diffusing on the surface of a liquid. Both a low viscosity liquid, represented by Lennard-Jones monomers, and a high viscosity liquid, represented by…
Lipid membranes, the barrier defining living cells and many of their sub-compartments, bind to a wide variety of nano- and micro-meter sized objects. In the presence of strong adhesive forces, membranes can strongly deform and wrap the…
Thin films made of deformable micro- and nano-units, such as biological membranes, polymer interfaces, and particle-laden liquid surfaces, exhibit a complex behavior during drying, with consequences for various applications like wound…
In this work, we consider the interaction of a 3D incompressible fluid with a 2D flexible shell that occupies (a part of) the boundary of the fluid domain. We assume that the shell is perfectly elastic while the fluid is governed by the…
The influence of the external pressure and surface energy on the wetting transition at nanotextured interfaces is studied using molecular dynamics and continuum simulations. The surface roughness of the composite interface is introduced via…
Particles at fluid-fluid interfaces have a wide range of important applications in industry, technology and science. Questions remain about what governs adsorption dynamics and inter-particle interactions, and how mixtures -- both of…
Liquid structure at solid-liquid interfaces is critical for many natural and engineered processes ranging from biological signal transduction to electrochemical energy conversion. Advanced experimental and computational methods have…
Reactions at solid-water interfaces play a foundational role in water treatment systems, catalysis, chemical separations, and in predicting chemical fate and transport in the environment. Over the last century, experimental measurements and…
We use numerical simulations to show how noninteracting hard particles binding to a deformable elastic shell may self-assemble into a variety of linear patterns. This is a result of the nontrivial elastic response to deformations of shells.…
We perform numerical simulations to study self-assembly of nanoparticles mediated by an elastic planar surface. We show how the nontrivial elastic response to deformations of these surfaces leads to anisotropic interactions between the…
Measurements of the surface diffusivity of colloidal spheres translating along a vapor/liquid inter- face show an unexpected decrease in diffusivity, or increase in surface drag (from the Stokes-Einstein relation) when the particles situate…
The idea of working with a near-critical phase-separated liquid mixture whereby the surface tension becomes weak, has recently made the field of laser manipulation of liquid interfaces a much more convenient tool in practice. The…
Thermoresponsive hydrogels have been studied intensively for creating smart drug carriers and controlled drug delivery. Understanding the drug release kinetics and corresponding transport mechanisms of nanoparticles (NPs) in a…
Nanoparticles (NPs) are fundamental building blocks for engineering functional soft materials, where precise control over the solvent-mediated inter-particle effective interaction (Ueff) is essential for tailoring bulk structure and…
Active fluid droplets are a class of soft materials exhibiting autonomous motion sustained by an energy supply. Such systems have been shown to capture motility regimes typical of biological cells and are ideal candidates as building-block…
Various experimental settings that involve drying solutions or suspensions of nanoparticles -- often called nanofluids -- have recently been used to produce structured nanoparticle layers. In addition to the formation of polygonal networks…