Related papers: Probing temperature-responsivity of microgels and …
The issue of ice accumulation at low-temperature circumstances causes multiple problems and serious damages in many civil infrastructures which substantially influence human daily life. However, despite the significant consideration in…
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the urgent need for the development of efficient, durable, reusable and recyclable filtration media for the deep-submicron size range. Here we demonstrate a multifunctional filtration platform using porous…
We explore the glassy dynamics of soft colloids using microgels and charged particles interacting by steric and screened Coulomb interactions, respectively. In the supercooled regime, the structural relaxation time $\tau_\alpha$ of both…
Self-assembly of sub-micron particles suspended in a water film is investigated numerically. The liquid medium is allowed to evaporate leaving only the sub-micron particles. A coupled CFD-DEM approach is used for the simulation of…
Superhydrophobic surfaces play an important role in the development of new product coatings such as cars, but also in mechanical engineering, especially design of turbines and compressors. Thus a vital part of the design of these surfaces…
The presence of nanoparticles in a diblock copolymer leads to changes in the morphology and properties of the matrix and can produce highly organized hybrid materials. The resulting material properties depend not only on the polymer…
In this work, we perform a systematic computer simulation study of ice premelting, and explore the thickness and structure of quasi-liquid layers formed at the interface of ice with substrates of different hydrophilicity. Our study shows…
For a deeply supercooled liquid just above its glass transition temperature, we present a simple thermodynamic model, where the deeply supercooled liquid is assumed to be a mixture of solid-like and liquid-like micro regions. The mole…
Hypothesis: A broad range of phenomena, such as emulsification and emulsion stability, foam formation or liquid evaporation, are closely related to the dynamics of adsorbing colloidal particles. Elucidation of the mechanisms implied is key…
We demonstrate that the configurational temperature formalism can be derived from the classical hypervirial theorem, and introduce a hierarchy of hyperconfigurational temperature definitions, which are particularly well suited for…
Investigations of free-standing liquid films enjoy an increasing popularity due to their relevance for many fundamental and applied scientific problems. They constitute soap bubbles and foams, serve as membranes for gas transport or as…
From a purely operational standpoint, the existence of microbes that can grow under extreme conditions, or "extremophiles", leads to the question of how the molecules making up these microbes can maintain both their structure and function.…
The behavior of microgels near surfaces and their adsorption is studied by simple scaling theory. Two different types of microgels can be studied, i.e., fractal type microgels and randomly crosslinked polymer chains. In the first case the…
Molecular-scale interactions between solvated macromolecules and solid surfaces govern a large number of processes, from biology to engineering. Yet, despite extensive characterization at the macroscopic level, our molecular understanding…
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of nanoscale objects in their native conditions and at different temperatures are of critical importance in revealing details of their interactions with ambient environments. Currently available…
Thermoresponsive hydrogels have been studied intensively for creating smart drug carriers and controlled drug delivery. Understanding the drug release kinetics and corresponding transport mechanisms of nanoparticles (NPs) in a…
Many suspensions contain particles with complex shapes that are affected not only by hydrodynamics, but also by thermal fluctuations, internal kinematic constraints and other long-range non-hydrodynamic interactions. Modeling these systems…
Two of the most challenging tasks in molecular simulation consist in capturing the properties of systems with long-range interactions (e.g. electrolyte solutions) as well as systems containing large molecules such as hydrogels. For the…
We have built a variable temperature scanning probe microscope (SPM) that covers 4.6 K - 180 K and up to 7 Tesla whose SPM head fits in a 52 mm bore magnet. It features a temperature-controlled sample stage thermally well isolated from the…
We provide experimental and numerical evidence of a new class of soft nanocolloids: star-like microgels with thermoresponsive character. This is achieved by using the standard precipitation polymerization synthesis of…