Related papers: Poromechanical modelling of responsive hydrogel pu…
The thermosensitivity and microstructure of microgels made by copolymerizing standard microgel-forming monomers with more hydrophilic comonomers is investigated, with the aim of increasing the volume phase transition temperature (VPTT). We…
Hydrogel adhesion that can be easily modulated in magnitude, space, and time is desirable in many emerging applications ranging from tissue engineering, and soft robotics, to wearable devices. In synthetic materials, these complex adhesion…
We consider problems of dynamic viscoelasticity taking into account the coupling of elastic and thermal fields. Efficient approximate models are developed and computational results on thermomechanical behaviour of shape-memory-alloy…
During the melting transition of dimyristoyl phosphatidylglycerol (DMPG), the order of the lipid chains and the three-dimensional, vesicular structural arrangement change simultaneously. These changes result in peculiar heat capacity…
Fluid gels are soft materials formed by shearing biopolymer solutions during the sol-gel transition. Their ability to yield and flow beyond a critical stress makes them attractive for designing versatile, biocompatible materials in food,…
We present a new type of phase-change behavior relevant for information storage applications, that can be observed in 2D systems with cluster-forming ability. The temperature-based control of the ordering in 2D particle systems depends on…
The density functional approach for classical associating fluids is used to explore the wetting phase diagrams for model systems consisting of water and graphite-like solid surfaces chemically modified by a small amount of grafted chain…
We introduce a new measure of the structure of a liquid which is the softness of the mean-field potential developed by us earlier. We find that this softness is sensitive to small changes in the structure. We then study its correlation with…
The thermodynamics and dynamics of supercooled liquids correlate with their elasticity. In particular for covalent networks, the jump of specific heat is small and the liquid is {\it strong} near the threshold valence where the network…
Predicting the mechanical response of the soft gel materials under external deformation is of paramount importance in many areas, such as foods, pharmaceuticals, solid-liquid separations, cosmetics, aerogels and drug delivery. Most of the…
Active emulsions and liquid crystalline shells are intriguing and experimentally realisable types of topological matter. Here we numerically study the morphology and spatiotemporal dynamics of a double emulsion, where one or two passive…
The anomalous properties of water in the supercooled state are numerous and well-known. Particularly striking are the strong changes in dynamic properties that appear to display divergences at temperatures close to -- but beyond -- the…
Absorption heat pumping devices (AHPDs, comprising absorption heat pumps and chillers) are devices that use thermal energy instead of electricity to generate heating and cooling, thereby facilitating the use of waste heat and renewable…
Incorporating nanomaterials into hydrogels allows for the creation of versatile materials with properties that can be precisely tailored by manipulating their nanoscale structures, leading to a wide range of bulk properties. Investigating…
The transient behaviour of highly concentrated colloidal liquids and dynamically arrested states (glasses) under time-dependent shear is reviewed. This includes both theoretical and experimental studies and comprises the macroscopic…
The dynamical arrest of gels is the consequence of a well defined structural phase transition, leading to the formation of a spanning cluster of bonded particles. The dynamical glass transition, instead, is not accompanied by any clear…
The existence of heterogeneity in the dynamics of supercooled liquids is believed to be one of the hallmarks of the glass transition. Intense research has been carried out in the past to understand the origin of this heterogeneity in…
Fast and programmable transport of liquid droplets on a solid substrate is desirable in microfluidic, thermal, biomedical, and energy devices. Past research has focused on designing substrates with asymmetric structures or gradient…
We measure the flow of water through mixed packings of glass spheres and soft swellable hydrogel grains, at constant sample volume. Permeability values are obtained at constant sample volume and at porosities smaller than random close…
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…