Related papers: Chemical interactions in active droplets

Phase separating systems that are maintained away from thermodynamic equilibrium via molecular processes represent a class of active systems, which we call active emulsions. These systems are driven by external energy input for example…

Polyelectrolyte gels are a very attractive class of actuation materials with remarkable electronic and mechanical properties with a great similarity to biological contractile tissues. They consist of a polymer network with ionizable groups…

Controlling interactions out of thermodynamic equilibrium is crucial for designing addressable and functional self-organizing structures. These active interactions also underpin collective behavior in biological systems. Here we study a…

We develop a general method for determining the effective interaction potential between two or more droplets suspended within a fluid phase. Our approach is based on classical density functional theory. Here, we apply the method to…

It is generally assumed that hydrodynamics in dense polyelectrolyte (PE) solutions, such as semidilute PE solutions and PE complex coacervates, is heavily screened and inconsequential. Here, using mesoscale molecular dynamics that…

Controlling interfaces of phase separating fluid mixtures is key to creating diverse functional soft materials. Traditionally, this is accomplished with surface-modifying chemical agents. Using experiment and theory, we study how mechanical…

Biomolecular condensates play a central role in the spatial organization of living matter. Their formation is now well understood as a form of liquid-liquid phase separation that occurs very far from equilibrium. For instance, they can be…

In living cells, cycles of formation and dissolution of liquid droplets can mediate biological functions such as DNA repair. However, the minimal physicochemical prerequisite for such droplet oscillations remains elusive. Here, we present a…

Chemically active droplets provide simple models for cell-like systems that can grow and divide. Such active droplet systems are driven away from thermodynamic equilibrium and turn over chemically, which corresponds to a simple metabolism.…

Liquid-liquid phase separation is important across biology, physics, and materials science. Although usually studied at equilibrium, active components - such as motor proteins, enzymes, and synthetic microswimmers - are increasingly…

The coupled dynamics of entangled polymers which span a broad time and length scales govern the unique viscoelastic properties of polymers. To follow chain mobility by numerical simulations from the intermediate Rouse and reptation regimes…

We introduce a novel type of self-bound droplet which carries an emergent color charge. We consider a system of particles hopping on a lattice and interacting via a commensurately sign-changing potential which is attractive at a short…

The self-organization of active particles is governed by their dynamic effective interactions. Such interactions are controlled by the medium in which such active agents reside. Here, we study the interactions between active agents in a…

The collective motion of chemically active particles at an air-liquid interface is studied theoretically as a dynamic self-organization problem. Based on a physical consideration, we propose a minimal model for self-propelled particles by…

We consider a simple thermodynamically consistent model that captures the self-organized chemomechanical coupling resulting from the interplay between autocatalytically reacting surfactants, the Marangoni effect and wetting dynamics. An…

The past two decades have seen a remarkable progress in the development of synthetic colloidal agents which are capable of creating directed motion in an unbiased environment at the microscale. These self-propelling particles are often…

Reactive, semi-permeable interfaces play important roles in key biological processes such as targeted drug delivery, lipid metabolism, and signal transduction. These systems involve coupled surface reactions, transmembrane transport, and…

Swimmers and self-propelled particles are physical models for the collective behaviour and motility of a wide variety of living systems, such as bacteria colonies, bird flocks and fish schools. Such artificial active materials are amenable…

We study dynamics of clustering in systems containing active particles that are immersed in an explicit solvent. For this purpose we have adopted a hybrid simulation method, consisting of molecular dynamics and multi-particle collision…

Driven chemical reactions can control the macroscopic properties of droplets, like their size. Such active droplets are critical in structuring the interior of biological cells. Cells also need to control where and when droplets appear, so…