Related papers: Microphase Separation Controls the Dynamics of Ass…
In many active matter systems, particle trajectories have a well-defined handedness or chirality. Whether such chiral activity can introduce stereoselective interactions between particles is not known. Here we developed a strategy to tune…
We have prepared a homologous series of filamentous viruses with varying contour length using molecular cloning techniques. These viruses are monodisperse enough to form a stable smectic phase. Two systems are studied. The first system…
During the life cycle of bacterial cells the non-mixing of the two ring-shaped daughter genomes is an important prerequisite for the cell division process. Mimicking the environments inside highly crowded biological cells, we study the…
We study random copolymers consisted of two kinds of monomers with attraction between similar kinds. The mean field analysis of this system indicates a continuous phase transition into a phase with periodic microdomain structure. It is…
Microphase separation in polymeric systems provides a bottom-up strategy to fabricate nanostructures. Polymers that are reported to undergo microphase separation usually include block copolymers or polyelectrolytes. Neutral homopolymers,…
Dimerization and subsequent aggregation of polymers and biopolymers often occur under nonequilibrium conditions. When the initial state of the polymer is not collapsed or the final folded native state, the dynamics of dimerization can…
Biological polymers, such as intrinsically disordered proteins, play a central role in cellular biology, including mediating phase separation and controlling activity of biological condensates. The physical properties and functions of…
Polymers with both soluble and insoluble blocks typically self-assemble into micelles, aggregates of a finite number of polymers where the soluble blocks shield the insoluble ones from contact with the solvent. Upon increasing…
Predicting the macroscopic mechanical behavior of polymeric materials from the micro-structural features has remained a challenge for decades. Existing theoretical models often fail to accurately capture the experimental data, due to…
The impact of complex media on the dynamics of active swimmers has gained a thriving interest in the research community for their prominent applications in various fields. This paper investigates the effect of viscoelasticity on the…
Colloid-polymer mixtures may undergo either fluid-fluid phase separation or gelation. This depends on the depth of the quench (polymer concentration) and polymer-colloid size ratio. We present a real-space study of dynamics in phase…
We use molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the microscopic and macroscopic response of model polymer networks to uniaxial elongations. By studying networks with strands lengths ranging from $N_s=20$ to 200 we cover the full…
The phase behavior of the system of parallel rigid triblock copolymers is examined using the second-virial density functional theory. The triblock particle consists of two identical infinitely thin hard rods of finite lengths on the…
An important goal of self-assembly is to achieve a preprogrammed structure with high fidelity. Here, we control the valence of DNA-functionalized emulsions to make linear and branched model polymers, or `colloidomers'. The distribution of…
A system of two self and mutual interacting ring polymers, close together in space, can display several competing equilibrium phases and phase transitions. Using Monte Carlo simulations and combinatorial arguments on a corresponding lattice…
We investigate by Monte Carlo simulations the zipping and unzipping dynamics of two polymers connected by one end and subject to an attractive interaction between complementary monomers. In zipping, the polymers are quenched from a high…
Mesoscopic structure of the periodically alternating layers of stretched homopolymer chains surrounded by perpendicularly oriented oligomeric tails is studied for the systems with both strong (ionic) and weak (hydrogen) interactions. We…
In this work we studied polymerization-induced self-assembly by means of computer simulations. Using this model, phase diagrams of the micelle states were constructed depending on the polymer concentration and the asymmetry of the…
The fracture and severing of polymer chains plays a critical role in the failure of fibrous materials and the regulated turnover of intracellular filaments. Using continuum wormlike chain models, we investigate the fracture of semiflexible…
The breakage of a polymer chain of segments, coupled by anharmonic bonds with applied constant external tensile force is studied by means of Molecular Dynamics simulation. We show that the mean life time of the chain becomes progressively…