Related papers: The double-faced electrostatic behavior of PNIPAm …
Ion transport in perm-selective media has been extensively investigated in recent years owing to its applications in advancements of fundamental understanding of nanoscale electrokinetics as well as innovative engineering applications. A…
Molecular dynamics simulations have been employed to study the formation of a physical (thermoreversible) gel by amphiphilic A-B-A triblock copolymers in aqueous solution. In order to mimic the structure of hydrogel-forming polypeptides…
Employing small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), we explore the conditions under which the assembly of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) grafted with the thermo-sensitive polymer Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) emerges. We find that short-range…
We study the kinetics of the liquid-to-crystal transformation and of gel formation in colloidal suspensions of oppositely charged particles. We analyse, by means of both computer simulations and experiments, the evolution of a fluid…
Phase separation in salt-free symmetric mixtures of oppositely charged rodlike polyelectrolytes is studied using quasi-analytical calculations. Stability analyses for the isotropic-isotropic and the isotropic-nematic phase transitions in…
We perform computational investigations of electrolyte-mediated interactions of charged colloidal particles confined within nanochannels. We investigate the role of discrete ion effects, valence, and electrolyte strength on colloid-wall…
The transport of biomolecules, drugs, or reactants encapsulated inside stimuli-responsive polymer networks in aqueous media is fundamental for many material and environmental science applications, including drug delivery, biosensing,…
Penning ionization releases electrons in a state-selected Rydberg gas of nitric oxide entrained in a supersonic molecular beam. Subsequent processes of electron impact avalanche, bifurcation, and quench form a strongly coupled, spatially…
The phase behavior of poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) nanoparticles dispersed in aqueous medium is investigated as a function of temperature using static and dynamic light scattering techniques. The diameter, d of the particles, as determined…
Based on classical molecular dynamics simulations, we discuss the impact of Coulombic interactions on a comprehensive set of properties of room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) containing 1,3 dimethylimidazolium (MMIM+), N butylpyridinium…
Linearly-sloped or `ramp' potentials belong to a class of core-softened models which possess a liquid-liquid critical point (LLCP) in addition to the usual liquid-gas critical point. Furthermore they exhibit thermodynamic anomalies in the…
X-ray diffraction pattern and Raman spectrum authenticate the monoclinic P21/n structure of polycrystalline Pr$_2$ZnMnO$_6$ (PZM) synthesized by the solid-state reaction technique. The X-ray photoemission spectrum suggests the existence of…
We explore phase separation and kinetic arrest in a model active colloidal system consisting of self-propelled, hard-core particles with nonconvex shapes. The passive limit of the model, namely cross-shaped particles on a square lattice,…
The uptake and sorption of charged molecules by responsive polymer membranes and hydrogels in aqueous solutions is of key importance for the development of soft functional materials. Here we investigate the partitioning of simple monoatomic…
In sharp contrast to the prevailing view that electric fields promote water freezing, here we show by molecular dynamics simulations that monolayer ice confined between two parallel plates can melt into liquid water under perpendicularly…
Water shows intriguing thermodynamic and dynamic anomalies in the supercooled liquid state. One possible explanation of the origin of these anomalies lies in the existence of a metastable liquid-liquid phase transition (LLPT) between two…
In recent years, ionic microgels have garnered much attention due to their unique properties, especially their stimulus-sensitive swelling behavior. The tunable response of these soft, permeable, compressible, charged colloidal particles is…
Monopole-like electrostatic interactions are ubiquitous in biology and condensed matter, but they are often screened by counter-ions and cannot be switched from attractive to repulsive. In colloidal science, where the prime goal is to…
We perform molecular dynamics simulations of 512 water-like molecules that interact via the TIP5P potential and are confined between two smooth hydrophobic plates that are separated by 1.10 nm. We find that the anomalous thermodynamic…
The forging of strong correlations on decreasing temperature can take place without the arousal of conventional order. If this happens, as in some geometrically frustrated magnets, disorder can be a phenomenon more interesting than order…