Related papers: Probing temperature-responsivity of microgels and …
We perform extensive Molecular Dynamics simulations of an ensemble of realistic microgel particles in swollen conditions in a wide range of packing fractions $\zeta$. We compare neutral and charged microgels, where we consider charges…
Microcapsules allow for the controlled containment, transport, and release of cargoes ranging from pharmaceuticals to fragrances. Given the interest from a variety of industries in microcapsules and other core-shell structures, a multitude…
We investigated the complexation of thermoresponsive anionic poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNiPAM) microgels and cationic $\epsilon$-polylysine ($\epsilon$-PLL) chains. By combining electrophoresis, light scattering, transmission electron…
The glass transition remains unclarified in condensed matter physics. Investigating the mechanical properties of glass is challenging because any global deformation that may result in shear rejuvenation requires an astronomical relaxation…
We describe a set-up for studying adsorption of helium in silica aerogels, where the adsorbed amount is easily and precisely controlled by varying the temperature of a gas reservoir between 80 K and 180 K. We present validation experiments…
Despite their technological relevance, a full microscopic understanding of glasses is still lacking. This applies even more to their surfaces whose properties largely differ from that of the bulk material. Here, we experimentally…
A key objective in DNA-based material science is understanding and precisely controlling the mechanical properties of DNA hydrogels. We perform microrheology measurements using diffusing-wave spectroscopy (DWS) to investigate the…
Hollow microgels are elastic polymer shells easily realizable in experiments. Recent works have shown the emergence of buckling events in dilute hollow microgels under the effect of an added osmotic pressure. Here, we perform large-scale…
Two-dimensional (2D) molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) has attracted significant attention because of its outstanding properties, suitable for application in several critical technologies like, solar cells, photocatalysis, lithium-ion batteries,…
Crystal defects crucially influence the properties of crystalline materials and have been extensively studied. Even for the simplest type of defect - the point defect - however, basic properties such as their diffusive behavior, and their…
Using a well defined soft model glass in the framework of Molecular Dynamics simulations, the inherent structures are probed by means of a recently developed deformation protocol that aims to capture the Dynamical Heterogeneities (DH), as…
Aligning a microcantilever to an area of interest on a sample is a critical step in many scanning probe microscopy experiments, particularly those carried out on devices and rare, precious samples. We report a series of protocols that…
Chemical surfactants are omnipresent in consumers' products but they suffer from environmental concerns. For this reason, complete replacement of petrochemical surfactants by biosurfactants constitute a holy grail but this is far from…
Temperature-responsive properties of surface-attached poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) network films with well-controlled chemistry are investigated. The synthesis consists of cross-linking and grafting preformed ene-reactive polymer…
In this work we show that macroscopic experiments can be used to investigate microscopic systems. Such macroscopic experiments enable testing the assumptions and results obtained by theoretical considerations or simulations that can not be…
We discuss the spatiotemporal behavior of local density and its relation to dynamical heterogeneity in a highly supercooled liquid by using molecular dynamics simulations of a binary mixture with different particle sizes in two dimensions.…
Combining elastic incoherent neutron scattering and differential scanning calorimetry, we investigate the occurrence of the volume phase transition (VPT) in very concentrated PNIPAM microgel suspensions, from a polymer weight fraction of…
Temperature sensors with micro- and nanoscale spatial resolution have long been explored for their potential to investigate the details of physical systems at an unprecedented scale. In particular, the rapid miniaturization of transistor…
Microstructured materials, such as architected metamaterials and phononic crystals, exhibit complex wave propagation phenomena due to their internal structure. While full-scale numerical simulations can capture these effects, they are…
Solid-solid collapse transition in open framework structures is ubiquitous in nature. The real difficulty in understanding detailed microscopic aspects of such transitions in molecular systems arises from the interplay between different…