Related papers: Dynamic Light Scattering based microrheology of En…
Composites of flexible and rigid polymers are ubiquitous in biology and industry alike, yet the physical principles determining their mechanical properties are far from understood. Here, we couple force spectroscopy with large-scale…
Fluids with competing short range attraction and long range repulsive interactions between the particles can exhibit a variety of microphase separated structures. We develop a lattice-gas (generalised Ising) model and analyse the phase…
Particles with directional interactions are promising building blocks for new functional materials and may serve as models for biological structures. Mutually attractive nanoparticles that are deformable due to flexible surface groups, for…
Short blunt-ended DNA duplexes comprising 6 to 20 base pairs self-assemble into polydisperse semi-flexible chains due to hydrophobic stacking interactions between terminal base pairs. Above a critical concentration, which depends on…
We investigate the temperature dependent phase behaviour of mixtures of poly(Nisopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAM) microgel colloids and a triblock copolymer (PEO-PPO-PEO) surfactant, which undergoes micellisation. Gelation in these systems…
We develop a computational method based on Dissipative Particle Dynamics (DPD) that introduces solvent hydrodynamic interactions to coarse-grained models of solutes, such as ions, molecules, or polymers. DPD-solvent (DPDS) is a fully…
Colloidal molecules are designed to mimic their molecular analogues through their anisotropic shape and interactions. However, current experimental realizations are missing the structural flexibility present in real molecules thereby…
The aging dynamics of colloidal suspensions of Laponite, a synthetic clay, is investigated using dynamic light stattering (DLS) and viscometry after a quench into the glassy phase. DLS allows to follow the diffusion of Laponite particles…
The effective entrapment of Carbon dots (CDs) into a polymer-silica hybrid matrix, formed as free standing transparent flexible films, is presented. CDs of 3 nm mean size with strong photoluminescence are embedded into a silica matrix…
We use {\it ab initio} molecular dynamics simulations to study a sample of liquid silica containing 3.84 wt.% H$_2$O.We find that, for temperatures of 3000 K and 3500 K,water is almost exclusively dissolved as hydroxyl groups, the silica…
Individual relaxation dynamics of electrons and holes in optically pumped semiconductors is rarely observed due to their overlap. Here we report the individual dynamics of long-lived (~200 mks) holes observed at room temperature in a 10 nm…
We survey the linear viscoelasticity of a new type of transient network: bridged wormlike micelles, whose structure has been characterized recently [Ramos and Ligoure, (2007)]. This composite material is obtained by adding telechelic…
We present a hybrid computational method for simulating the dynamics of macromolecules in solution which couples a mesoscale solver for the fluctuating hydrodynamics (FH) equations with molecular dynamics to describe the macromolecule. The…
Applying an electric field to polarisable colloidal particles, whose permittivity differs from that of the dispersing medium, generates induced dipoles that promote the formation of string-like clusters and ultimately alter the fluid…
We present a hybrid simulation method which allows one to study the dynamical evolution of self-assembling (co)polymer solutions in the presence of hydrodynamic interactions. The method combines an established dynamic density functional…
Alkali doped aromatic compounds have shown evidence of metallic and superconducting phases whose precise nature is still mysterious. In potassium and rubidium doped phenanthrene, superconducting temperatures around 5 K have been detected,…
We report on the formation of colloidal complexes resulting from the electrostatic self-assembly of polyelectrolyte-neutral block copolymers and oppositely charged surfactants. The copolymers investigated are asymmetric and characterized by…
The complexation of micelles or charged nanoparticles with neutral-charged block copolymers in aqueous solutions leads to the formation of colloidal superstructures also termed 'colloidal complexes'. Their primary interest relies in their…
Solutions of wormlike micelles can form cross-linked networks on microscopic length scales. The unique mechanical properties of these complex fluids are driven by the interplay between the network structure and dynamics which are…
Organic solar cells (OSCs) based on ADA-type (acceptor-donor-acceptor) non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) exhibit improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) compared to the conventional fullerene-based analogues. The optoelectronic properties…