Related papers: Development of biochar molecular models with contr…
Biochars have been attracting renewed attention as economical and environmentally friendly carbon sequestration materials with a diverse range of applications. However, experimental developments may be limited by the lack of molecular-level…
Biochars are black carbonaceous solids produced through biomass pyrolysis under conditions of little or no oxygen. Whilst their properties are well studied, and their applications numerous, the underlying molecular structures within…
Pore space characteristics of biochars may vary depending on the used raw material and processing technology. Pore structure has significant effects on the water retention properties of biochar amended soils. In this work, several biochars…
We report a molecular dynamics investigation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) adsorption at the aqueous-biochar interface using experimentally constrained woody biochar models representative of softwood-derived biochars produced at…
Microcapsules are a key class of microscale materials with applications in areas ranging from personal care to biomedicine, and with increasing potential to act as extracellular matrix (ECM) models of hollow organs or tissues. Such capsules…
Technical challenges in molecule sensing and chemical detection have created an increasing demand for transformative materials with high sensitivity and specificity. Biohybrid nanopores have attracted growing interest as they can ideally…
Many porous media are mixtures of inert and reactive materials, manifesting spatio-chemical heterogeneity. We study the evolution of scalar transport in a chemically heterogeneous material that mimics a green roof soil substrate,…
Microorganisms hosted in abiotic structures have led to engineered living materials that can grow, sense and adapt in ways that mimic biological systems. Although porous structures should favor colonization by microorganisms, they have not…
Throughout our history, we, humans, have sought to better control and understand our environment. To this end, we have extended our natural senses with a host of sensors-tools that enable us to detect both the very large, such as the…
Biochar pore space consists of porosity of multiple length scales. In direct water holding applications like water storage for plant water uptake, the main interest is in micrometre-range porosity since these pores are able to store water…
In most applications of nanoporous materials the pore structure is as important as the chemical composition as a determinant of performance. For example, one can alter performance in applications like carbon capture or methane storage by…
Porous carbon ablators offer cost-effective thermal protection for aerospace vehicles during re-entry into planetary atmospheres. However, the exploration of more distant planets requires the development of ablators that are able to…
Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is a process that converts biomass into versatile hydrochar without the need for prior drying. The physicochemical properties of hydrochar are influenced by biomass properties and processing parameters,…
The global increase in materials consumption calls for innovative materials, with tailored performance and multi-functionality, that are environmentally sustainable. Composites from renewable resources offer solutions to fulfil these…
The global population increase leads to a high food demand, and to reach this target products such as pesticides are needed to protect the crops. Research is focusing on the development of new products that can be less harmful to the…
Biomolecular condensates are formed via liquid-liquid phase separation of proteins, often together with nucleic acids, typically driven by interactions between low-affinity binding sites. The computational study of such condensates that…
The biomolecules in and around a living cell -- proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, carbohydrates -- continuously sample myriad conformational states that are thermally accessible at physiological temperatures. Simultaneously, a given…
Biofilm growth changes many physical properties of porous media such as porosity, permeability and mass transport parameters. The growth depends on various environmental conditions, and in particular, on flow rates. Modeling the evolution…
We discuss the role coarse-grained models play in the investigation of the structure and thermodynamics of bilayer membranes, and we place them in the context of alternative approaches. Because they reduce the degrees of freedom and employ…
Carbon nanomembranes made from aromatic precursor molecules are free standing nanometer thin materials of macroscopic lateral dimensions. Although produced in various versions for about two decades not much is known about their internal…