Related papers: Bioinspired polymer-incorporating self-lubricating…
Nature has exhibited numerous soft-interactive botanical or zoological systems with self-adaptivenss or reconfigurable shape, however, artificial micro/nano materials of same merit are formidable due to material/structural limitations,…
In situ polymerization and micropatterning of hydrogels on-chip opens the potential for many applications such as tracking and controlling the diffusion of molecules, stimulants, inhibitors, as well as nutrients and drugs, from their source…
A homogeneous thin polymer film with a stepped height profile levels due to the presence of Laplace pressure gradients. Here we report on studies of polymeric samples with precisely controlled, spatially inhomogeneous molecular weight…
Poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAM) is a thermoresponsive polymer, an essential building block of a large family of soft smart materials. In neat water it undergoes upon heating at $\approx$305K a phase transition from swollen to collapsed…
Bolaamphiphilesamphiphilic molecules with polar groups at each of the two ends of a hydrophobic tail with pH-sensitive spontaneous molecular curvaturesendow membranes of extremophiles with an exquisite balance between stability (or…
Herein, we used an electrospinning process to develop highly efficacious and hydrophobic coaxial nanofibers based on poly-cyclodextrin (polyCD) associated with poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) that combines polymeric and supramolecular…
Effects of mechanical stress on the permeability of vascular endothelium are important to normal physiology and may be critical in the development of atherosclerosis, where they can account for the patchy arterial distribution of the…
We introduce an exactly solvable statistical-mechanical model of the hydration of non-polar compounds, based on grouping water molecules in clusters where hydrogen bonds and isotropic interactions occur; interactions between clusters are…
Poly(ethylene oxide)-$\textit{b}$-poly(butylmethacrylate) (PEO-$\textit{b}$-PBMA) copolymers have recently been identified as excellent building blocks for the synthesis of hierarchical nanoporous materials. Nevertheless, while experiments…
In a recent publication, we have highlighted the potential of phosphonic acid terminated PEG oligomers to functionalize strong UV absorption cerium oxide nanoparticles[1], which yield suspensions that are stable in aqueous or organic…
Free surfaces in glassy polymer films are known to induce surface mobile layers with enhanced dynamics. Using molecular dynamics simulations of a bead-spring model, we study a wide variety of layer-resolved structural and dynamical…
The entropic effects of anchored polymers on biomembranes are studied using simulations of a meshless membrane model combined with anchored linear polymer chains. The bending rigidity and spontaneous curvature are investigated for anchored…
Wear resistant coatings were produced on a permanent mould cast MRI 230D Mg alloy by (a) PEO in silicate based electrolyte, (b) PEO in phosphate based electrolyte, (c) hybrid coatings of silicate PEO followed by laser surface alloying (LSA)…
From pasta to biological tissues to contact lenses, gel and gel-like materials inherently soften as they swell with water. In dry, low-relative-humidity environments, these materials stiffen as they de-swell with water. Here, we use…
Osmotic pressure is the driving force for the swelling of hydrogels. The hydrogel osmotic pressure can be decomposed into two parts: the mixing part due to polymer-solvent interaction and the elastic part due to polymer chain stretching.…
Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-based microgels are soft colloids undergoing a Volume Phase Transition (VPT) close to ambient temperature. Although widely employed for fundamental research and application purposes, the modifications of the…
The design of exudate-managing wound dressings is an established route to accelerated healing, although such design remains a challenge from material and manufacturing standpoints. Aiming towards the clinical translation of knowledge gained…
Self-assembled monolayers of microparticles encoding Archimedean and non-regular tessellations promise unprecedented structure-property relationships for a wide spectrum of applications in fields ranging from optoelectronics to surface…
Force induced stretching of polymers is important in a variety of contexts. We have used theory and simulations to describe the response of homopolymers, with $N$ monomers, to force ($f$) in good and poor solvents. In good solvents and for…
Stereolithographic 3D-printing (SLA) permits facile fabrication of high-precision microfluidic and lab-on-a-chip devices. SLA photopolymers often yield parts with low mechanical compliancy in sharp contrast to elastomers such as…