Related papers: Siloxane crosslinks with dynamic bond exchange ena…
We report here a molecular dynamics simulation study on water and aqueous LiCl solutions confined in 1.6 nm cylindrical pores of silica to investigate a dynamical cross-over, observed earlier experimentally, wherein LiCl slows down confined…
Nematic elastomers are a particular class of liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) that exhibit both liquid-crystalline order and rubber (entropic) elasticity. This combination makes them stimuli-responsive soft materials with a number of…
Certain cephalopods can dynamically camouflage by altering both skin texture and color to match their surroundings. Inspired by this capability, we present a cholesteric liquid crystal elastomer-liquid crystal elastomer (CLCE-LCE) bilayer…
The shape of liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) with spatial variation in the director orientation can be transformed by exposure to a stimulus. Here, informed by previously reported analytical treatments, we prepare complex spiral…
Liquid Crystalline Elastomers (LCEs) are active materials that are of interest due to their programmable response to various external stimuli such as light and heat. When exposed to these stimuli, the anisotropy in the response of the…
This paper aimed at obtaining cross-linked polymeric materials of biomass origin. For this purpose one-pot polyesterification of methyl ricinoleate and methyl 12-hydroxystearate using titanium isopropoxide as a catalyst has been performed…
Soft-elasticity in monodomain liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) is promising for impact-absorbing applications where strain energy is ideally absorbed at constant stress. Conventionally, compressive and impact studies on LCEs have not been…
Solid-state methods for cooling and heating promise a more sustainable alternative to current compression cycles of greenhouse gases and inefficient fuel-burning heaters. Barocaloric effects (BCE) driven by hydrostatic pressure ($p$) are…
Gels made of telechelic polymers connected by reversible crosslinkers are a versatile design platform for biocompatible viscoelastic materials. Their linear response to a step strain displays a fast, near-exponential relaxation when using…
Developing efficient and universal polymer crosslinking strategies is pivotal for advanced material design, especially for challenging matrixes like polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene. Traditional crosslinkers such as…
Fracture phenomena in soft materials span multiple length- and timescales. This poses a major challenge in computational modeling and predictive materials design. To pass quantitatively from molecular- to continuum scales, a precise…
We derive a multiphysics model that accounts for network elasticity with spontaneous strains, swelling and nematic interactions in liquid crystal gels (LCGs). We discuss the coupling among the various physical mechanisms, with particular…
We study the monodomain (single-crystal) nematic elastomer materials, all side-chain siloxane polymers with the same mesogenic groups and crosslinking density, but differing in the type of crosslinking. Increasing the proportion of long…
Liquid crystal elastomers are rubbery solids that couple liquid crystalline order and deformation. This coupling leads to properties that are attractive for a number of applications in soft robotics and energy absorption. This paper is…
Low-buckled silicene, germanene, and stanene are group$-IV$ graphene allotropes. They form a honeycomb lattice out of two interpenetrating ($A$ and $B$) triangular sublattices that are vertically separated by a small distance $\Delta_z$.…
Vitrimers are a special class of polymers that undergo dynamic cross-linking under thermal stimuli. Their ability to exchange covalent bonds can be harnessed to mitigate damage in a composite or to achieve recyclable aerospace composites.…
The inter-connection between the elasticity of a dielectric film and the wetting of a sessile drop on the same, under an applied electrical voltage, remains unaddressed. Here, we report the electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) behaviour of…
We have performed accurate dynamic light-scattering measurements near critical demixing points of solutions of polystyrene in cyclohexane with polymer molecular weight ranging from 200,000 to 11.4 million. Two dynamic modes have been…
In contrast to the static operations of conventional semiconductor devices, the dynamic conformational freedom in molecular devices opens up the possibility of using molecules as new types of devices such as a molecular conformational…
Chromonic liquid crystals (CLCs) are lyotropic materials which are attracting growing interest for their adaptability to living systems. A considerable body of works has been devoted to exploring their properties and applications. In this…