Related papers: Bidisperse ring polymers: topological glass to sta…
An extended Molecular-Dynamics study of the short-time "glassy" elasticity exhibited by a polymer melt of linear fully-flexible chains above the glass transition is presented. The focus is on the infinite-frequency shear modulus $G_\infty$…
A sheet of glassy polymers placed in a solvent shows swelling behaviors quite different from that of soft polymers (rubbers and gels). (1) Non-Fickian diffusion (called case II diffusion): As solvent permeates into the sample, a sharp front…
We study bidisperse colloidal suspensions confined within glass microcapillary tubes to model the glass transition in confined cylindrical geometries. We use high speed three-dimensional confocal microscopy to observe particle motions for a…
We model the flow behaviour of dense melts of flexible and semiflexible ring polymers in the presence of walls using a hybrid multiscale approach. Specifically, we perform molecular dynamics simulations and apply the Irving-Kirkwood formula…
Twisted and rope-like assemblies of filamentous molecules are common and vital structural elements in cells and tissue of living organisms. We study the intrinsic frustration occurring in these materials between the two-dimensional…
We present results from molecular dynamics simulations of a spherically confined neutral polymer in the presence of crowding agents, studying polymer shapes and conformations as a function of the confining potential, solvent quality and the…
Recently, ultrastable glasses have been created through vapor deposition. Subsequently, computer simulation algorithms have been proposed that mimic the vapor deposition process and result in simulated glasses with increased stability. In…
Bidisperse particle systems are common in both natural and engineered materials, and it is known to influence packing, flow, and stability. However, their direct effect on elastic properties, particularly in systems with attractive…
Assemblies of purely repulsive and frictionless particles, such as emulsions or hard spheres, display very curious properties near their jamming transition, which occurs at the random close packing for mono-disperse spheres. Although such…
Inspired by the ubiquity of composite filamentous networks in nature we investigate models of biopolymer networks that consist of interconnected floppy and stiff filaments. Numerical simulations carried out in three dimensions allow us to…
The plastic deformation of crystalline materials can be understood by considering their structural defects such as disclinations and dislocations. Although glasses are also solids, their structure resembles closely the one of a liquid and…
We study two dimensional frustrated but non-disordered systems applying a replica approach to a stripe forming model with competing interactions. The phenomenology of the model is representative of several well known systems, like high-Tc…
Glasses and gels are the two dynamically arrested, disordered states of matter. Despite their importance, their similarities and differences remain elusive, especially at high density. We identify dynamical and structural signatures which…
Nanometer-thick supported lms of polymer melts spontaneously form and spread around sessile droplets that are deposited on oxidized silicon wafers. At steady state, the lms become dense and adopt a uniform thickness which is equal to twice…
We study theoretically the structure of sliding grafted polymer layers or SGP layers. These interfacial structures are built by attaching each polymer to the substrate with a ring-like molecule such as cyclodextrins. Such a topological…
Polydisperse mixtures are those in which components with a whole range of sizes are present. It is shown that the fluid phase of polydisperse hard spheres is thermodynamically unstable unless the density of large spheres decreases at least…
The number of distinguishable inherent structures of a liquid is the key component to understanding the thermodynamics of glass formers. In the case of hard potential systems such as hard discs, spheres and ellipsoids, an inherent structure…
This paper reviews recent Monte Carlo simulation studies of the glassy behavior in thin polymer films. The simulations employ a version of the bond-fluctuation lattice model, in which the glass transition is driven by the competition…
We report a detailed experimental study of the structure and dynamics of glassy states in hard spheres with short-range attraction. The system is a suspension of nearly-hard-sphere colloidal particles and non-adsorbing linear polymer which…
We investigate, using numerical simulations and analytical arguments, a simple one dimensional model for the swelling or the collapse of a closed polymer chain of size N, representing the dynamical evolution of a polymer in a \Theta-solvent…