Related papers: Smart copolymer microgels with high volume phase t…
We study volume transition phenomenon in hydrogels within the framework of Flory-Rehner thermodynamic modelling; we show that starting from different models for the Flory parameter different conclusions can be achieved, in terms of…
In this paper we present a new one-pot synthesis method of poly(acrylate-co-acrylamide) superabsorbent polymer via partial alkaline hydrolysis of acrylamide using microwave irradiation. This method allows to hydrolysis, polymerization and…
Thermo-responsive hydrogels are smart materials that rapidly switch between hydrophilic (swollen) and hydrophobic (shrunken) states when heated past a threshold temperature, resulting in order-of-magnitude changes in gel volume. Modelling…
Soft particles such as microgels and core-shell particles can undergo significant and anisotropic deformations when adsorbed to a liquid interface. This, in turn, leads to a complex phase behavior upon compression. Here we develop a…
Monolayers of soft colloidal particles confined at fluid interfaces have been attracting increasing interest for fundamental studies and applications alike. However, establishing the relation between their internal architecture, which is…
Microgels are soft colloidal particles that, when dispersed in a solvent, swell and deswell in response to changes in environmental conditions, such as temperature, concentration, and $p$H. Using Monte Carlo simulation, we model bulk…
We investigate the co-nonsolvency of poly-N-isopropyl acrylamide (PNiPAM) in different water-alcohol mixtures and show that this phenomenon is due to two distinct solvation contributions governing the phase behavior of PNiPAM in the…
Microgels are colloidal-scale particles individually made of crosslinked polymer networks that can swell and deswell in response to external stimuli, such as changes to temperature or pH. Despite a large amount of experimental activities on…
Motivated by advances in hydrogen-rich superconductors in the past decades, we conducted variable-composition structural searches in Mo-H binary system at high pressure. A new composition-pressure phase diagram of thermodynamically stable…
The encapsulation of fragile biomacromolecules is crucial for many biotechnological applications but remains challenging. Interfacial complexation (IC) in water-in-oil emulsions turned out to be an efficient process for the formation of…
We investigate the collective behavior of suspended thermoresponsive microgels, that expel solvent and subsequently decrease in size upon heating. Using a binary mixture of differently thermoresponsive microgels, we demonstrate how…
Thermoresponsive microgels find widespread use as colloidal model systems, because their temperature-dependent size allows facile tuning of their volume fraction "in situ". However, an interaction potential unifying their behavior across…
In this work, we present two types of microfluidic chips involving magnetic nanoparticles dispersed in cyclohexane with oleic acid. In the first case, the hydrophobically coated nanoparticles are self-assembled with an amphiphilic diblock…
Temperature-responsive polymeric micelles have great potential in drug delivery, enhancing therapeutic efficacy while minimizing systemic toxicity. This study investigates the self-assembly of poly(ethylene…
Hypothesis: While the mechanical disruption of microscopic structures in complex fluids by large shear flows has been studied extensively, the effects of applied strains on the dielectric properties of macromolecular aggregates has received…
The phase behaviour of soft colloids has attracted great attention due to the large variety of new phenomenologies emerging from their ability to pack at very high volume fractions. Here we report rheological measurements on interpenetrated…
The time-dependent response of polystyrene and poly(methyl methacrylate) is studied in isothermal long-term shear creep tests at small strains and various temperatures in the vicinity of the glass transition point. A micromechanical model…
Biological hydrogels have been increasingly sought after as e.g. wound dressings or scaffolds for regenerative medicine, due to their inherent biofunctionality in biological environments. Especially in moist wound healing, the ideal…
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…
Understanding the adsorption and physical characteristics of supported lipid membranes is crucial for their effective use as model cell membranes. Their morphological and thermodynamic properties at the nanoscale have traditionally been…