Related papers: Hydroelastomers: soft, tough, highly swelling comp…
Soft particles display highly versatile properties with respect to hard colloids, even more so at fluid-fluid interfaces. In particular, microgels, consisting of a cross-linked polymer network, are able to deform and flatten upon adsorption…
Soft elastic filaments that can be stretched, bent and twisted exhibit a range of topologically and geometrically complex morphologies that include plectonemes, solenoids, knot-like and braid-like structures. We combine numerical…
Conjugated polymer fibers can be used to manufacture various soft fibrous optoelectronic devices, significantly advancing wearable devices and smart textiles. Recently, conjugated polymer-based fibrous electronic devices have been widely…
For nearly a century, introduction of nanoparticles to elastomers has yielded extraordinarily tough nanocomposites that are critical to technologies from actuators to tires. The mechanisms by which this reinforcement occurs have…
Instabilities in thin elastic sheets, such as wrinkles, are of broad interest both from a fundamental viewpoint and also because of their potential for engineering applications. Nematic liquid crystal elastomers offer a new form of control…
Hydrogels hold promise in agriculture as reservoirs of water in dry soil, potentially alleviating the burden of irrigation. However, confinement in soil can markedly reduce the ability of hydrogels to absorb water and swell, limiting their…
Fluid dynamics plays a crucial role in various multiphysics applications, including energy systems, electronics cooling, and biomedical engineering. Developing models for complex coupled systems can be challenging and time-consuming. In…
Particles added to a fluid interface can be used as a surface stabilizer in the food, oil and cosmetic industries. As an alternative to rigid particles, it is promising to consider highly deformable particles that can adapt their…
An increasing variety of crystal structures has been observed in soft condensed matter over the past two decades, surpassing most expectations for the diversity of arrangements accessible through classical driving forces. Here, we survey…
High-strength composite hydrogels cellulose-polyacrylamide were synthesized by free-radical polymerization of acrylamide conducted inside the previously formed physical network of regenerated plant cellulose. Partial hydrolysis of the amide…
Direct near field electrospinning is used to produce very long helical polystyrene microfibers in water. The pitch length of helices can be controlled by changing the applied voltage, allowing to produce both micro springs and…
Active semiflexible filaments are crucial in various biophysical processes, yet insights into their single-filament behavior have predominantly relied on theory and simulations, owing to the scarcity of controllable synthetic systems. Here,…
Obstructions influence the growth and expansion of bodies in a wide range of settings -- but isolating and understanding their impact can be difficult in complex environments. Here, we study obstructed growth/expansion in a model system…
Many soft-body organisms found in nature flourish underwater. Similarly, soft robots are potentially well-suited for underwater environments partly because the problematic effects of gravity, friction, and harmonic oscillations are less…
A facile route for the fabrication of surface-attached hydrogel thin films with well-controlled chemistry and tailored architecture on wide range of thickness from nanometers to micrometers is reported. The synthesis, which consists in…
The deformation and flow of disordered solids, such as metallic glasses and concentrated emulsions, involves swift localized rearrangements of particles that induce a long-range deformation field. To describe these heterogeneous processes,…
Biological soft tissues exhibit elastic properties which can be dramatically different from rubber-type materials (elastomers). To gain a better understanding of the role of constitutive relationships in determining material responses under…
Soft matter materials, such as polymers, membranes, proteins, are often electrically charged. This makes them water soluble, which is of great importance in technological application and a prerequisite for biological function. We discuss a…
Hydrogels which are hydrophilic and porous materials have recently emerged as promising systems for filtration applications. In our study, we prepare hydrogel membranes by the photopolymerization of a mixture of poly (ethylene glycol)…
We construct a new hydrodynamic framework describing plastic deformations in electronic crystals. The framework accounts for pinning, phase, and momentum relaxation effects due to translational disorder, diffusion due to the presence of…