Related papers: Packing, Phase Separation and Interface Compatibil…
We review recent simulation studies of interfaces between immiscible homopolymer phases. Special emphasis is given to the presentation of efficient simulation techniques and powerful methods of data analysis, such as the analysis of…
Nanocomposite materials made of block copolymer and nanoparticles display properties which can be different from the purely polymeric matrix. The resulting material is a crossover of the original properties of the block copolymer and the…
The phase behavior of a cross-linked polymer blend made of two incompatible species, $A$ and $B$, of different chemical nature is analyzed. Besides a homogeneous phase, this system also exhibits two microphases and a phase of total…
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…
We study the interplay between wetting and miscibility of a symmetric polymer mixture via MC simulations and SCF calculations. The film surfaces interact with the monomers via short ranged potentials and the wetting transition is of first…
Transient networks comprised of polymers connected by short-lived bonds are a common design theme for both biological and synthetic materials. Transient bonds can provide mechanical rigidity, while still allowing for visco-elastic flows on…
Recent experiments have demonstrated that the nonlinear elasticity of in vitro networks of the biopolymer actin is dramatically altered in the presence of a flexible cross-linker such as the abundant cytoskeletal protein filamin. The basic…
Using extensive Monte Carlo simulations we study the phase diagram of a symmetric binary (AB) polymer blend confined into a thin film as a function of the film thickness D. The monomer-wall interactions are short ranged and antisymmetric,…
Disordered networks of semiflexible filaments are common support structures in biology. Familiar examples include fibrous matrices in blood clots, bacterial biofilms, and essential components of cells and tissues of plants, animals, and…
Kinetic barriers cause polymers to crystallize incompletely, into nanoscale lamellae interleaved with amorphous regions. As a result, crystalline polymers are full of crystal-melt interfaces, which dominate their physical properties. The…
Chromatin and associated proteins constitute the highly folded structure of chromosomes. We consider a self-avoiding polymer model of the chromatin, segments of which may get cross-linked via protein binders that repel each other. The…
Motivated by recent experiments showing nonlinear elasticity of in vitro networks of the biopolymer actin cross-linked with filamin, we present an effective medium theory of flexibly cross-linked stiff polymer networks. We model such…
This research paper comprehensively explores the effects of molecular weight and chain architecture on the interfacial and thermodynamic properties of cyclic and linear polymer blends. Utilizing the Kremer-Grest bead-spring model, the study…
Chain-like macromolecules (polymers) show characteristic adsorption properties due to their flexibility and internal degrees of freedom, when attracted to surfaces and interfaces. In this review we discuss concepts and features that are…
Cross-linked polymer networks with orientational order constitute a wide class of soft materials and are relevant to biological systems (e.g., F-actin bundles). We analytically study the nonlinear force-extension relation of an array of…
Extensive molecular dynamics simulations were conducted to explore the conformational phase diagram of a neutral polymer in the presence of attractive crowders of varying sizes. For weakly self-attractive polymers, larger crowders induce a…
We study two cross-linked polymer systems in the strong stretching regime. The first consists of two polymers sharing one endpoint, with the other two endpoints coupled by a harmonic potential. Within the weakly bending approximation, we…
Inspired by the complex influence of the globular crosslinking proteins on the formation of biofilament bundles in living organisms, we study and analyze a theoretical model for the structure and thermodynamics of bundles of helical…
Ferrogels and magnetic elastomers differentiate themselves from other materials by their unique capability of reversibly changing shape and mechanical properties under the influence of an external magnetic field. A crucial issue in the…
Bundles of filamentous polymers are primary structural components of a broad range of cytoskeletal structures, and their mechanical properties play key roles in cellular functions ranging from locomotion to mechanotransduction and…