Related papers: Large and non-linear permeability amplification wi…
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…
During magma vesiculation, permeability is established when growing bubbles begin to form connected networks, which allow fluids to percolate. This percolation threshold controls the relative rates between magma ascent and volatile…
Developing 'smart' membranes that allow precise and reversible control of molecular permeation using external stimuli would be of intense interest for many areas of science: from physics and chemistry to life-sciences. In particular,…
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…
Viscosity is a key property of cell membranes that controls mobility of embedded proteins and membrane remodeling. Measuring it is challenging because existing approaches involve complex experimental designs and/or models, and the…
The permeability of certain polymer membranes with impenetrable nanoinclusions increases with the particle volume fraction (Merkel et al., Science, 296, 2002). This intriguing observation contradicts even qualitative expectations based on…
We analyze the structural behavior of a single polymer chain grafted to an attractive, flexible surface. Our model is composed of a coarse-grained bead-and-spring polymer and a tethered membrane. By means of extensive parallel tempering…
We theoretically analyze the waveguide regime of light propagation in a cylindrical pore of a polymer matrix filled with liquid crystals assuming that the effective radial optical anisotropy is biaxial. From numerical analysis of the…
The dynamic behavior of polyelectrolyte chains in the oligomer range is investigated with coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation and compared to data obtained by two different experimental methods, namely capillary electrophoresis and…
The permeability is one of the most fundamental transport properties in soft matter physics, material engineering, and nanofluidics. Here we report by means of Langevin simulations of ideal penetrants in a nanoscale membrane made of a fixed…
We consider the optical properties of finite systems composed of a series of graphene sheets separated by thin dielectric layers. Because these systems respond as conductors to electric fields in the plane of the graphene sheets and as…
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…
Lipid vesicles consist of aqueous cores surrounded by a bilayer of phospholipids. Hybrid polymer-lipid vesicles incorporate both polymers and lipids, offering promising properties for developing pharmaceuticals, biosensors, and artificial…
Robust nanoporous polymer films with approximate 100-nm thicknesses would be broadly applicable in technological areas such as flexible sensors, artificial skins, separators, antireflection and self-cleaning films. However, the creation of…
Soft matters whose constituents are deformable are ubiquitous in nature especially in biological systems-including cells and their organelles-as well as in foams and emulsions. The capacity for deformation in these soft materials gives rise…
We perform molecular dynamics simulations to investigate hydration structures and dynamics in seven water-containing polymers: PVA, PHEA, PHEMA, PBA, PMEMA, PEG, and PMEA. The analysis integrates four perspectives: the water-content…
Catalyzing capping layers on top of metal hydrides are often employed to enhance the hydrogenation kinetics of metal-hydride based systems such as hydrogen sensors. Here, we experimentally study the hydrogenation kinetics of capping layers…
Photomechanical liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are responsive polymers that can convert light directly into mechanical deformation. This unique feature makes these materials an attractive candidate for soft actuators capable of remote and…
From biological tissues to layers of paint, macroscopic non-porous materials with the capacity to swell when brought in contact with an appropriate solvent are ubiquitous. Here, we study experimentally and theoretically one of the…
Among the different contributions generating self-potential, the streaming potential is of particular interest in hydrogeology for its sensitivity to water flow. Estimating water flux in porous media using streaming potential data relies on…