Related papers: Entropy-driven phase behavior of associative polym…

Chain-like macromolecules (polymers) show characteristic adsorption properties due to their flexibility and internal degrees of freedom, when attracted to surfaces and interfaces. In this review we discuss concepts and features that are…

We computationally investigate the active transport of tangentially-driven polymers with varying degrees of flexibility and activity in two-dimensional square lattices of obstacles. Tight periodic confinement induces notable conformational…

We consider a statistical mechanical model of a generic flexible polyelectrolyte, comprised of identically charged monomers with long range electrostatic interactions, and short-range interactions quantified by a disorder field along the…

The field of synthetic active matter has, thus far, been led by efforts to create point-like, isolated (yet interacting) self-propelled objects (\emph{e.g.} colloids, droplets, microrobots) and understanding their collective dynamics. The…

The characterization of the interactions between two fully flexible self-avoiding polymers is one of the classic and most important problems in polymer physics. In this paper we measure these interactions in the presence of active…

We predict the thermodynamic and structural behavior of solutions of long cross-linked filaments. We find that at the mean field level, the entropy of self-assembled junctions induces an effective attraction between the filaments that can…

We study the diffusion process through an ideal polymer network, using numerical methods. Polymers are modeled by random walks on the bonds of a two-dimensional square lattice. Molecules occupy the lattice cells and may jump to the…

We study the adsorption of polymer chains on a fluctuating surface. Physical examples are provided by polymer adsorption at the rough interface between two non-miscible liquids, or on a membrane. In a mean-field approach, we find that the…

In this paper we consider a model which describes a polymer chain interacting with an infinity of equi-spaced linear interfaces. The distance between two consecutive interfaces is denoted by T = T_N and is allowed to grow with the size N of…

Phase separation within polymer networks plays a central role in shaping the structure and mechanics of both synthetic materials and living cells, including the formation of biomolecular condensates within cytoskeletal networks. Previous…

We investigate the phase behavior of athermal polymer/nanoparticle blends near a hard substrate. We apply the density functional theory of Tripathi and Chapman to these blends. We find a first order phase transition where the nanoparticles…

Contractile biopolymer networks, such as the actomyosin meshwork of animal cells, are ubiquitous in living organisms. The active gel theory, which provides the thermodynamic framework for these materials, has been mostly used in conjunction…

The mechanics of complex soft matter often cannot be understood in the classical physical frame of flexible polymers or rigid rods. The underlying constituents are semiflexible polymers, whose finite bending stiffness ($\kappa$) leads to…

Conformational phases of a semiflexible off-lattice homopolymer model near an attractive substrate are investigated by means of multicanonical computer simulations. In our polymer-substrate model, nonbonded pairs of monomers as well as…

Active matter agents consume internal energy or extract energy from the environment for locomotion and force generation. Already rather generic models, such as ensembles of active Brownian particles, exhibit phenomena, which are absent at…

Recently it has been shown that a two-dimensional model of self-attracting polymers based on attracting segments with the addition of stiffness displays three phases: a swollen phase, a globular, liquid-like phase, and an anisotropic…

I consider the possibility that Gaussian random walk statistics are sufficient to trap nanoscopic additives at either a polymer interface or surface. When an additive particle goes to the free surface, two portions of the polymer surface…

Using a transfer matrix technique, we calculate the entropy of polydisperse chains placed on a one-dimensional lattice, as a function of the density of internal and endpoint monomers. The polydispersivity is determined considering different…

We study the driven translocation of polymers under time-dependent driving forces using $N$-particle Langevin dynamics simulations. We consider the force to be either sinusoidally oscillating in time or dichotomic noise with exponential…

Interactions between active individuals in animal collectives lead to emergent responses that remain elusive in synthetic soft matter. Here, shape-morphing polymers are used to create bio-inspired transient solids that self-assemble with…