Related papers: Gel Formation in Reversibly Cross-Linking Polymers
We have studied the competition between helix formation and aggregation for a simple polymer model. We present simulation results for a system of two such polymers, examining the potential of mean force, the balance between inter and…
Self-oscillating gels are chemically-responsive hydrogels coupled to an oscillating chemical reaction of a stimulus solute. In response to the oscillating solute concentration field, responsive gels periodically swell and deswell, expelling…
In this work, we explore the dynamics of active entangled chains using molecular dynamics simulations of a modified Kremer-Grest model. The active chains are diluted in a mesh of very long passive linear chains, to avoid constraint release…
Creating amorphous solid states by randomly bonding an ensemble of dense liquid monomers is a common procedure which is applied to create a variety of materials such as epoxy resins, colloidal gels, and vitrimers. The properties of the…
Living systems often exhibit internal driving: active, molecular processes drive nonequilibrium phenomena such as metabolism or migration. Active gels constitute a fascinating class of internally driven matter, where molecular motors exert…
An important goal of self-assembly is to achieve a preprogrammed structure with high fidelity. Here, we control the valence of DNA-functionalized emulsions to make linear and branched model polymers, or `colloidomers'. The distribution of…
We study the structure and dynamics of a transient network composed of droplets of microemulsion connected by telechelic polymers. The polymer induces a bridging attraction between droplets without changing their shape. A viscoelastic…
We study analytically the intricate phase behavior of cross-linked $AB$ diblock copolymer melts, which can undergo two main phase transitions due to quenched random constraints: Gelation, i.e., spatially random localization of polymers…
The morphology and the microscopic internal dynamics of a bidimensional gel formed by spontaneous aggregation of gold nanoparticles confined at the water surface are investigated by a suite of techniques, including grazing-incidence x-ray…
Dynamical polydispersity in single-particle properties, for example a fluctuating particle size, shape, charge density, etc., is intrinsic to responsive colloids (RCs), such as biomacromolecules or microgels, but is typically not resolved…
Motivated by the structure of networks of cross-linked cytoskeletal biopolymers, we study the orientationally ordered phases in two-dimensional networks of randomly cross-linked semiflexible polymers. We consider permanent cross-links which…
In polymers melts and supercooled liquids, the glassy dynamics is characterized by the rattling of monomers or particles in the cage formed by their neighbors. Recently, a direct correlation in such systems, described by a universal scaling…
The inner structure of polymeric particles critically influences their phase behavior and functionality, governing their mechanical properties and their physical and chemical interactions. For thermoresponsive microgels, i.e. colloidal…
We use computer simulations to study the (driven) dynamics of a charged polymer in a disordered medium, thus mimicking the setting used in gel electrophoresis. In agreement with experiments, we find that inside the gel the mobility of the…
We study bond percolation of $N$ non-interacting Gaussian polymers of $\ell$ segments on a 2D square lattice of size $L$ with reflecting boundaries. Through simulations, we find the fraction of configurations displaying {\em no} connected…
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…
We study a generic model of self-assembling chains which can branch and form networks with branching points (junctions) of arbitrary functionality. The physical realizations include physical gels, wormlike micells, dipolar fluids and…
Associative polymers are a class of polymers containing attractive stickers that can reversibly bind to each other. Their fully-bonded state gives rise, in dilute conditions, to a fluid phase of so-called single-chain nanoparticles (SCNPs).…
The diffusion of molecules (penetrants) of variable size, shape, and chemistry through dense crosslinked polymer networks is a fundamental scientific problem that is broadly relevant in materials, polymer, physical and biological chemistry.…
Mean-field techniques provide a rather accurate description of single-chain conformations in spatially inhomogeneous polymer systems containing interfaces or surfaces. Intermolecular correlations, however, are not described by the…