Related papers: Under pressure: Hydrogel swelling in a granular me…
We experimentally study the formation of surface patterns in grafted hydrogel films of nanometer-to-micrometer thicknesses during imbibition-driven swelling followed by evaporation-driven shrinking. Creases are known to form at the hydrogel…
Hydrogels have a distinct combination of mechanical and water-transport behaviors. As hydrogels stiffen, they become less permeable. Here, we combine semi-dilute polymer theory with the Kozeny-Carman equation to develop a simple scaling law…
\textbf{Background} Hydrogels are crosslinked polymer networks that can absorb and retain a large fraction of liquid. Near a critical sliding velocity, hydrogels pressed against smooth surfaces exhibit time-dependent frictional behavior…
Lipid bilayer membranes have a native (albeit small) permeability for water molecules. Under an external load, provided that the bilayer structure stays intact and does not suffer from poration or rupture, a lipid membrane deforms and its…
Shells, when confined, can deform in a broad assortment of shapes and patterns, often quite dissimilar to what is produced by their flat counterparts (plates). In this work we discuss the morphological landscape of shells deposited on a…
Many objects in nature and industry are wrapped in a thin sheet to enhance their chemical, mechanical, or optical properties. There are similarly a variety of methods for wrapping, from pressing a film onto a hard substrate, to using…
A polymer network can imbibe water, forming an aggregate called hydrogel, and undergo large and inhomogeneous deformation with external mechanical constraint. Due to the large deformation, nonlinearity plays a crucial role, which also…
Inspired by the cellular design of plant tissue, we present a new approach to make versatile, tough, highly water-swelling composites. We embed highly swelling hydrogel particles inside tough, water-permeable, elastomeric matrices. The…
Hollow microgels are elastic polymer shells easily realizable in experiments. Recent works have shown the emergence of buckling events in dilute hollow microgels under the effect of an added osmotic pressure. Here, we perform large-scale…
Despite their importance in many biological, ecological and physical processes, microorganismal fluid flows under tight confinement have not been investigated experimentally. Strong screening of Stokelets in this geometry suggests that the…
We study the arrest of three-dimensional flow in wet granular matter subject to a sinusoidal external force and a gravitational field confining the flow in the vertical direction. The minimal strength of the external force that is required…
Fluids under extreme confinement exhibit unique structures and intermolecular bonding, distinct from their bulk analogs, driving innovative applications at the water-energy nexus. Probing confined water experimentally at the length scale of…
This work is devoted to analyze the relation between the thermodynamic properties of a confined fluid and the shape of its confining vessel. Recently, new insights in this topic were found through the study of cluster integrals for…
We consider the survival of solid H2 in the diffuse interstellar medium, with application to grains which are small enough to qualify as dust. Consideration of only the thermal aspects of this problem leads to the familiar conclusion that…
Granular packings display a wealth of mechanical features which are of widespread significance. One of these features is creep: the slow deformation under applied stress. Creep is common for many other amorphous materials such as many…
Hydrogels have the ability to undergo large deformations and yet fail like brittle materials. The development of biocompatible hydrogels with high strength and toughness is an ongoing challenge in many applications. We crosslinked bovine…
The propagation of mechanical energy in granular materials has been intensively studied in recent years given the wide range of fields that have processes related to this phenomena, from geology to impact mitigation and protection of…
Atomistic calculations were carried out to investigate the mechanical properties of Pd crystals as a combined function of structural defects, hydrogen concentration and high temperature. These factors are found to individually induce…
The ability of atomic hydrogen to chemisorb on graphene makes the latter a promising material for hydrogen storage. Based on scanning tunneling microscopy techniques, we report on site-selective adsorption of atomic hydrogen on convexly…
Cellulose is one of the most versatile substances in the world. Its immense variety of applications was in recent years complemented by interesting nanotechnological applications. The fabrication of complex cellulose-based materials asks…