Related papers: Phase Behavior of Thermo-Responsive Nanoplatelets
The mechanical property enhancement of polymer reinforced with nano-thin clay platelets (of high aspect ratio) is associated with a high polymer-filler interfacial area per unit volume. The ideal case of fully separated (exfoliated)…
Self-assembly of simple molecules into complex phases can be driven by physical constraints, for instance, due to selective molecular uptake by nanoporous surfaces. Despite the significance of surface-mediated assembly in evolution of life,…
Due to the potential applications in biomedical engineering, it becomes more and more important to understand the process of engulfment and internalization of nanoparticles (NPs) by cell membranes. Despite the fact that the interaction…
Cells are fundamental building blocks of living organisms displaying an array of shapes, morphologies, and textures that encode specific functions and physical behaviors. Elucidating the rules of this code remains a challenge. In this work,…
Lyotropic liquid crystals can display rich phase behaviour and self-organisation, yet the physical principles underlying their self-assembly into large scale patterns remains understudied. Here, we combine theory, simulations and…
Under many conditions, biomolecules and nanoparticles associate by means of attractive bonds, due to hydrophobic attraction. Extracting the microscopic association or dissociation rates from experimental data is complicated by the…
The geometry of walls forming a narrow pore may qualitatively affect the phase behaviour of the confined fluid. Specifically, the nature of condensation in nanopores formed of sinusoidally-shaped walls (with amplitude $A$ and period $P$) is…
The liquid to vapour transition can occur at unexpected conditions in nanopores, opening the door to fundamental questions and new technologies. The physics of boiling in confinement is progressively introduced, starting from classical…
The presence of nanoparticles in a diblock copolymer leads to changes in the morphology and properties of the matrix and can produce highly organized hybrid materials. The resulting material properties depend not only on the polymer…
Tailoring the nanomorphology of organic photoactive layers through a specialized chain of processing steps is an imperative challenge on the path towards reliable and performant organic electronic manufacturing. This hurdle generally proves…
We explore the shape and internal structure of diblock copolymer (di-BCP) nanoparticles (NPs) by using the Ginzburg-Landau free-energy expansion. The self-assembly of di-BCP lamellae confined in emulsion droplets can form either ellipsoidal…
A self-interacting polymer can undergo an orientational ordering transition, depending on the magnitude of the nematic interaction. The effect of embedding such a polymer into a flexible surface on this transition is studied on the…
Subwavelength periodic confinement can collectively and selectively enhance local light intensity and enable control over the photo-induced phase transformations at the nanometer scale. Standard nanofabrication process can result in…
Self-assembly of colloidal particles is poised to become a powerful composite material fabrication technique, but remains challenged by a limited control over the ensuing structures. We develop a new breed of nematic colloids that are…
The interactions between nanoparticles and solvents play a critical role in the formation of complex, metastable nanostructures. However, direct observation of such interactions with high spatial and temporal resolution is challenging with…
We present numerical calculations of lamellar phases of block copolymers at patterned surfaces. We model symmetric di-block copolymer films forming lamellar phases and the effect of geometrical and chemical surface patterning on the…
Self-assembled fibrillar network (SAFIN) hydrogels and organogels are commonly obtained by a crystallization process into fibers induced by external stimuli like temperature or pH. The gel-to-sol-to-gel transition is generally readily…
During the last 3 years, our group has investigated extensively the complexation mechanism between neutral-polyelectrolyte block copolymers with oppositely charged species. These species are surfactant micelles, multivalent counterions and…
We study numerically the behaviour of a mixture of a passive isotropic fluid and an active polar gel, in the presence of a surfactant favouring emulsification. Focussing on parameters for which the underlying free energy favours the…
The piezoelectric response is a measure of the sensitivity of a material's polarization to stress or its strain to an applied field. Using in-operando x-ray Bragg coherent diffraction imaging, we observe that topological vortices are the…