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The development of synthetic microswimmers has advanced our understanding of the fundamental self-propelled mechanisms of living systems. However, there are scarce studies at the microscale within highly structured anisotropic media, such…
We investigate the collective behavior of suspended thermoresponsive microgels, that expel solvent and subsequently decrease in size upon heating. Using a binary mixture of differently thermoresponsive microgels, we demonstrate how…
We study colloidal gels formed by competing electrostatic repulsion and short-range attraction by means of extensive numerical simulations under external shear. We show that, upon varying the repulsion strength, the gel structure and its…
We study the dynamic behaviour of concentrated colloidal hard spheres using Time Resolved Correlation, a light scattering technique that can detect the slow evolution of the dynamics in out-of-equilibrium systems. Surprisingly, equilibrium…
We study colloidal particle dynamics of a model glass system using confocal and fluorescence microscopy as the sample evolves from a hard-sphere glass to a liquid with attractive interparticle interactions. The transition from hard-sphere…
We develop a model of amoeboid cell motility based on active gel theory. Modeling the motile apparatus of a eukaryotic cell as a confined layer of finite length of poroelastic active gel permeated by a solvent, we first show that, due to…
Active systems of self-rotating elements inherently exhibit chirality, making them of fundamental interest due to parity violation. Using large-scale hydrodynamic simulations, we investigate the gelation of adhesive spinners confined to…
It is well known that periodic potentials can be used to induce freezing and melting in colloids. Here, we transfer this concept to active systems and find the emergence of a so-far unknown active matter phase in between the frozen…
Gels in soft-matter systems are an important nonergodic state of matter. We study a colloid-polymer mixture which is quenched by increasing the polymer concentration, from a fluid to a gel. Using confocal microscopy, we study both the…
The aging dynamics of a colloidal glass has been studied by multiangle Dynamic Light Scattering, Neutron Spin Echo, X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy and Molecular Dynamics simulations. The two relaxation processes, microscopic (fast)…
Motivated by recent experiments, we study a system of self-propelled colloids that experience short-range attractive interactions and are confined to a surface. Using simulations we find that the phase behavior for such a system is…
Actuation remains a signifcant challenge in soft robotics. Actuation by light has important advantages: objects can be actuated from a distance, distinct frequencies can be used to actuate and control distinct modes with minimal…
We employ the state-of-the-art molecular dynamics simulations to study the kinetics of phase separation and aging phenomena of segregating binary fluid mixtures imbibed in porous materials. Different random porous structures are considered…
We study the dynamics of an active gel droplet with imposed orientational anchoring (normal or planar) at its surface. We find that if the activity is large enough droplets subject to strong anchoring spontaneously start to rotate, with the…
The dynamics of self-propelled colloidal particles are strongly influenced by their environment through hydrodynamic and, in many cases, chemical interactions. We develop a theoretical framework to describe the motion of confined active…
We study theoretically the effects of confinement on active polar gels such as the actin network of eukaryotic cells. Using generalized hydrodynamics equations derived for active gels, we predict, in the case of quasi one-dimensional…
Attractive colloidal particles can form a disordered elastic solid or gel when quenched into a two-phase region, if the volume fraction is sufficiently large. When the interactions are comparable to thermal energies the stress-bearing…
Using computer simulations, we study the dynamic arrest in a schematic model of colloid-polymer mixtures combining short-ranged attractions with long-ranged repulsions. The arrested gel is a dilute rigid network of colloidal particles…
Colloidal gels form through the sol-gel transition of attractive particle suspensions, where local aggregation leads to a space-spanning network with solid-like properties. Their microstructure and mechanical properties are highly sensitive…
The dynamics of particles interacting by key-lock binding of attached biomolecules are studied theoretically. Experimental realizations of such systems include colloids grafted with complementary single-stranded DNA (ssDNA), and particles…