Related papers: Liquid Crystals as Multifunctional Interfaces for …
When viewed with a cross-polarized optical microscope (POM), liquid crystals display interference colors and complex patterns that depend on the material's microscopic orientation. That orientation can be manipulated by application of…
Capillarity-driven self-assembly at fluidic interfaces offers a scalable route to large, reconfigurable materials. Microscale particles with high horizontal-to-vertical aspect ratios become attractive building blocks for shape-directed…
We study the self-assembly of colloidal microgel particles at a quasi-two-dimensional air-water interface of a drying droplet. Using bright-field microscopy, we demonstrate that increasing particle elasticity drives interfacial organization…
Liquid crystals are synthetic and biological viscoelastic anisotropic soft matter materials that combine liquid fluidity with crystal anisotropy and find use in optical devices, sensor/actuators, lubrication, super-fibers. Frequently…
We demonstrate a variety of ordered patterns, including hexagonal structures and chains, formed by colloidal particles (droplets) at the free surface of a nematic liquid crystal (LC). The surface placement introduces a new type of particle…
Previous experiments have shown that spherical colloidal particles relax to equilibrium slowly after they adsorb to a liquid-liquid interface, despite the large interfacial energy gradient driving the adsorption. The slow relaxation has…
This mini-review discusses the recent contribution of theoretical and computational physics as well as experimental efforts to the understanding of the behavior of colloidal particles in confined geometries and at liquid crystalline…
The effect of the adsorption of a polypeptide on the lateral interaction of dimyristoylphosphatidylserine molecules in different phase states on the surface of a 10\,mM KCl aqueous solution has been studied. Changes in the surface pressure…
This fluid dynamics video, presented at the 66th Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics (Pittsburgh, PA), shows how dielectric colloidal polystyrene (PS) particles with a negative surface charge in a…
We consider a system of spherical colloidal particles with a size polydispersity and use a simple van der Waals description in order to study the combined effect of both the polydispersity and the spatial non-uniformity induced by a planar…
Microfluidic channels are integral to biomedical technology and process engineering, offering versatility in handling fluids with complex properties, often a combination of viscous and elastic attributes. Despite significant advancements in…
The shapes of liquid polystyrene (PS) droplets on viscoelastic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrates are investigated experimentally using atomic force microscopy for a range of droplet sizes and substrate elasticities. These shapes, which…
Soft particles such as microgels and core-shell particles can undergo significant and anisotropic deformations when adsorbed to a liquid interface. This, in turn, leads to a complex phase behavior upon compression. Here we develop a…
Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous in all ecosystems, affecting wildlife and, ultimately, human health. The complexity of natural samples plus the unspecificity of their treatments to isolate polymers renders the characterization of…
Imaging techniques are essential tools for inquiring a number of properties from different materials. Liquid crystals are often investigated via optical and image processing methods. In spite of that, considerably less attention has been…
The phase-field-crystal model is used to access the structure and thermodynamics of interfaces between two coexisting liquid crystalline phases in two spatial dimensions. Depending on the model parameters there is a variety of possible…
The adsorption of concentrated polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride, PDADMAC-sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES) mixtures at the water-vapor interface has been studied by different surface tension techniques and dilational viscoelasticity…
Microplastic (MP) pollution is a well document threat to our aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, however, the mechanisms by which MPs are transported in river flows are still unknown. The transport of MPs and natural sediment in aquatic…
We show that the interaction potential between sterically stabilized, nearly hard-sphere [poly(methylmethacrylate)-poly(lauryl methacrylate) (PMMA-PLMA)] colloids at a water-oil interface has a negligible unscreened-dipole contribution,…
The mechanical properties of aggregated colloids depend on the mutual interplay of inter-particle potentials, contact forces, aggregate structure and material properties of the bare particles. Owing to this variety of influences…