Related papers: Adaptive hydrogels with spatiotemporal stiffening …

Electrochemical energy systems rely on particulate porous electrodes to store or convert energies. While the three-dimensional porous structures were introduced to maximize the interfacial area for better overall performance of the system,…

A facile route for the fabrication of surface-attached hydrogel thin films with well-controlled chemistry and tailored architecture on wide range of thickness from nanometers to micrometers is reported. The synthesis, which consists in…

Thermo-responsive hydrogels are a promising material for creating controllable actuators for use in micro-scale devices, since they expand and contract significantly (absorbing or expelling fluid) in response to relatively small temperature…

Stress relaxation following deformation of an entangled polymeric liquid is thought to be affected by transient reforming of chain entanglements. In this work, we use single molecule techniques to study the relaxation of individual polymers…

Colloidal liquid robotics with embodied intelligence solutions mimicking biologic systems, in response to the future increasingly distributed sensing and the resulting data to be managed, has been proposed as the next cybernetic paradigm.…

In this work, we perform experiments with spherical polyacrylamide (PAAm) hydrogel drops/spheres, spanning a broad range of shear moduli and impact velocities on hydrophilic (plasma-treated glass) and hydrophobic (silane-coated) substrates,…

Piezoionic hydrogels offer a route to mechanically driven bioelectronic interfaces, but their output is limited by rapid, symmetric ion redistribution that dissipates charge gradients. In biological electrocytes, efficient signal generation…

\textbf{Background} Hydrogels are crosslinked polymer networks that can absorb and retain a large fraction of liquid. Near a critical sliding velocity, hydrogels pressed against smooth surfaces exhibit time-dependent frictional behavior…

Responsive particles, such as biomacromolecules or hydrogels, display a broad and polymodal distribution of conformations and have thus the ability to change their properties (e.g, size, shape, charge density, etc.) substantially in…

High-strength composite hydrogels cellulose-polyacrylamide were synthesized by free-radical polymerization of acrylamide conducted inside the previously formed physical network of regenerated plant cellulose. Partial hydrolysis of the amide…

Understanding molecular structure, dynamics, and reactivity requires bridging processes that occur across widely separated time scales. Conventional molecular dynamics simulations provide atomistic resolution, but their femtosecond time…

This theoretical study concerns a pH oscillator based on the urea-urease reaction confined to giant lipid vesicles. Under suitable conditions, differential transport of urea and hydrogen ion across the unilamellar vesicle membrane…

Next-generation touch panels are poised to benefit from the use of stretchable and transparent soft ionic conductors, but these materials face several challenges in practical application, including structural damage, loss of functionality,…

A stochastic model for the dynamics of enzymatic catalysis in explicit, effective solvents under physiological conditions is presented. Analytically-computed first passage time densities of a diffusing particle in a spherical shell with…

Stretching response of polymer chains under external force is crucial in understanding polymer dynamics under equilibrium and non-equilibrium conditions. Here we measure the elastic response of poly(ethylene glycol) using a lock-in based…

Motile microorganisms, like bacteria and algae, unify abilities like self-propulsion, autonomous navigation, and decision-making on the micron scale. While recent breakthroughs have led to the creation of synthetic microswimmers and…

Micro-organisms propel themselves in viscous environments by the periodic, nonreciprocal beating of slender appendages known as flagella. Active materials have been widely exploited to mimic this form of locomotion. However, the realization…

Flagellated microorganisms can swim at low Reynolds numbers and adapt to changes in their environment. Specifically, the flagella can switch their shapes or modes through gene expression. In the past decade, efforts have been made to…

Reactive, semi-permeable interfaces play important roles in key biological processes such as targeted drug delivery, lipid metabolism, and signal transduction. These systems involve coupled surface reactions, transmembrane transport, and…

In many physical systems, degrees of freedom are coupled \emph{via} hydrodynamic forces, even in the absence of Hamiltonian interactions. A particularly important and widespread example concerns the transport of microscopic particles in…