Related papers: Link between morphology, structure and interaction…
Thermoresponsive microgels are polymeric colloidal networks that can change their size in response to a temperature variation. This peculiar feature is driven by the nature of the solvent-polymer interactions, which triggers the so-called…
Magnetic gels with embedded micro/nano-sized magnetic particles in crosslinked polymer networks can be actuated by external magnetic fields, with changes in their internal microscopic structures and macroscopic mechanical properties. We…
Thermal conduction in polymer nanocomposites depends on several parameters including the thermal conductivity and geometrical features of the nanoparticles, the particle loading, their degree of dispersion and formation of a percolating…
Thermoresponsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) particles of different sizes are synthesized by varying the concentration of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) in a one-pot method. The sizes, size polydispersities and the…
We analyze structural and conformational properties in a simulated bead-spring model of a non-entangled, supercooled polymer melt. We explore the statics of the model via various structure factors, involving not only the monomers, but also…
Simple models based on isotropic interparticle attractions often fail to capture experimentally observed structures of colloidal gels formed through spinodal decomposition and subsequent arrest: the resulting gels are typically denser and…
Poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAM) is a thermoresponsive polymer, an essential building block of a large family of soft smart materials. In neat water it undergoes upon heating at $\approx$305K a phase transition from swollen to collapsed…
We report, for the first time, some experimental observations regarding a new type of long range interaction between rigid particles that prevails when they are suspended in an soft elastic gel. A denser particle submerges itself to a…
We simulate a series of model polymer composites, composed of linear polymer strands and spherical, monodisperse filler particles (FP). These molecular dynamics simulations implement a coarse-grained, bead-spring force field and we vary…
Using a coarse-grained model, self-organized assembly of proteins (e.g. CorA and its inner segment iCorA) is studied by examining quantities such as contact profile, radius of gyration, and structure factor as a function of protein…
As the interface between human and machine becomes blurred, hydrogel incorporated electronics and devices have emerged to be a new class of flexible/stretchable electronic and ionic devices due to their extraordinary properties, such as…
Shape transformations of hairy nanoparticles under confinement are studied using molecular dynamic simulations. We discuss the behavior of these particles in slits with inert or attractive walls. We assume that only chain-wall interactions…
The complexation of plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) and thermoresponsive microgels is widely exploited for applications, but a microscopic description of the mechanisms governing the spatial organization of the NPs is still lacking. Combining…
Polymer blends offer an exciting material for various potential applications due to their tunable properties by varying constituting components and their relative composition. Our simulation results unravel an intrinsic relationship between…
We present a series of experiments investigating the local microstructure of cylindrical piles composed of highly concave particles. By systematically varying particle geometry -- from spheres to strongly non-convex polypods -- as well as…
Sustainable solid-state refrigerants based on barocaloric materials are often limited by thermal hysteresis associated with supercooling effects. Here, we present imaging methods to investigate and compare thermal behaviour and transition…
The results obtained from molecular dynamics simulations of the friction at an interface between polymer melts and weakly attractive crystalline surfaces are reported. We consider a coarse-grained bead-spring model of linear chains with…
The long debated protein dynamical transition was recently found also in non-biological macromolecules, such as poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAM) microgels. Here, by using atomistic molecular dynamics simulations, we report a description…
We study the magneto-elastic coupling behavior of paramagnetic chains in soft polymer gels exposed to external magnetic fields. To this end, a laser scanning confocal microscope is used to observe the morphology of the paramagnetic chains…
The mechanical properties of a disordered heterogeneous medium depend, in general, on a complex interplay between multiple length scales. Connecting local interactions to macroscopic observables, such as stiffness or fracture, is thus…