Related papers: How Tuning Interfaces Impacts the Dynamics and Str…
A brief review of modeling and simulation methods for a study of polymers at interfaces is provided. When studying truly multiscale problems as provided by realistic polymer systems, coarse graining is practically unavoidable. In this…
A study of the reinforcement effect of a soft polymer matrix by hard nanometric filler particles is presented. In the main part of this article, the structure of the silica filler in the matrix is studied by Small Angle Neutron Scattering…
Nanoparticles (NPs) make for intriguing heterogeneous catalysts due to their large active surface area and excellent and often size-dependent catalytic properties that emerge from a multitude of chemically different surface reaction sites.…
We report molecular dynamics simulation results on the equilibrium properties of polymer thin films adsorbed onto flat and curved substrates. We first systematically determine the contact angle of polymer droplets on flat substrates as a…
Pentacene has been used widely in organic devices, and the interface structure between pentacene and a substrate is known to significantly influence device performances. Here we demonstrate that molecular ordering of pentacene on graphene…
The contact mechanics of individual, very small particles with other particles and walls is studied using a nanoindenter setup that allows normal and lateral displacement control and measurement of the respective forces. The sliding,…
Binary compositions of surface ligands are known to improve the colloidal stability and fluorescence quantum yield of nanocrystals (NCs), due to ligand-ligand interactions and surface organization. Herein, we follow the thermodynamics of a…
Interfacial interactions significantly alter the fundamental properties of water confined in mesoporous structures, with crucial implications for geological, physicochemical, and biological processes. Herein, we focused on the effect of…
Thin membranes exhibit complex responses to external forces or geometrical constraints. A familiar example is the wrinkling, exhibited by human skin, plant leaves, and fabrics, resulting from the relative ease of bending versus stretching.…
Field-theoretical method is efficient in predicting the assembling structures of polymeric systems. However, for the polymer/nanoparticle mixture, the continuous density description is not suitable to capture the realistic assembly of…
Controlling interfacial interactions in magnetic/topological insulator heterostructures is a major challenge for the emergence of novel spin-dependent electronic phenomena. As for any rational design of heterostructures that rely on…
Although wettability is a macroscopic manifestation of molecular-level forces, such as van der Waals (vdW) forces, the impact of nanoconfinement on material properties in reduced film thickness remains unexplored in predicting film…
The formation of smart emulsions or foams whose stability can be controlled on-demand by switching external parameters is of great interest for basic research and applications. An emerging group of smart stabilizers are microgels, which are…
Hypothesis: We test whether the wettability of nanoparticles (NPs) straddling at an air/water surface or oil/water interface can be extrapolated from sessile drop-derived macroscopic contact angles (mCAs) on planar substrates, assuming that…
Although strong modulation of interfacial electron concentrations by the relative acidity of surface additives has been suggested, direct observation of corresponding changes in surface conductivity, crucial for understanding the role of…
Complex morphologies and microstructures that emerge during materials growth and solidification are often determined by both equilibrium and kinetic properties of the interface and their crystalline anisotropies. However limited knowledge…
Macromolecular crowding can influence polymer shapes, which is important for understanding the thermodynamic stability of polymer solutions and the structure and function of biopolymers (proteins, RNA, DNA) under confinement. We explore the…
In recent years, the immiscible polymer blend system has attracted much attention as the matrix of nanocomposites. Herein, from the perspective of dynamics, the control of the carbon nanotubes (CNTs) migration aided with the interface of…
Explicit molecular dynamics simulations were applied to a pair of amorphous silica nanoparticles in aqueous solution, of diameter 4.4 nm with four different background electrolyte concentrations, to extract the mean force acting between the…
Morphology of polymer electrolytes membranes (PEM), e.g., Nafion, inside PEM fuel cell catalyst layers has significant impact on the electrochemical activity and transport phenomena that determine cell performance. In those regions, Nafion…