Related papers: Controlling microgel morphology and swelling behav…
Hydrophilic and LCST polymer chains, poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) (PDMA) and poly(Nisopropylacrylamide)(PNIPA), were combined in semi-interpenetrated architectures toinvestigate their responsive properties in swollen isochoric conditions…
We develop thin films of blends of polystyrene (PS) with the thermoresponsive polymer poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) (PS/PNIPAM) and its diblock copolymer polystyrene-b-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PS/PS-b-PNIPAM) in different blend…
During the melting transition of dimyristoyl phosphatidylglycerol (DMPG), the order of the lipid chains and the three-dimensional, vesicular structural arrangement change simultaneously. These changes result in peculiar heat capacity…
Hierarchical polymer structures such as pNIPAM microgels have been extensively studied for their ability to undergo significant structural and physical transformations that can be controlled by external stimuli such as temperature, pH or…
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…
We present a pedagogical review of the swelling thermodynamics and phase transitions of polymer gels. In particular, we discuss how features of the volume phase transition of the gel's osmotic equilibrium is analogous to other transitions…
A polymer shell offers a unique opportunity to tailor structural and optical properties of optically functional nanoparticles and their ensembles. Here, we develop a process to coat Mie-resonant silicon nanospheres (Si NSs) with a…
Microgels are complex macromolecules. These colloid-sized polymer networks possess internal degrees of freedom and, depending on the polymer(s) they are made of, can acquire a responsiveness to variations of the environment (temperature,…
Nanoplatelets open up a wide range of possibilities for building materials with novel properties linked to their shape anisotropy. A challenge consists of controlling dynamically the order of positioning and orientation in three dimensions…
The coupled dynamics of entangled polymers which span a broad time and length scales govern the unique viscoelastic properties of polymers. To follow chain mobility by numerical simulations from the intermediate Rouse and reptation regimes…
As interest in sustainable materials grows, paper is being reimagined as a multifunctional substrate with significant potential for future technologies for innovative, environmentally friendly solutions. This study investigates the swelling…
The role of electrostatics on the interfacial properties of polyelectrolyte microgels has been discussed controversially in the literature. It is not yet clear if, or how, Coulomb interactions affect their behavior under interfacial…
Hydrogel consists of a crosslinked polymer matrix imbibed with a solvent such as water at volume fractions that can exceed 90\%. They are important in many scientific and engineering applications due to their tunable physiochemical…
Thermoresponsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) particles of a nearly constant swelling ratio and with polydispersity indices (PDIs) varying over a wide range (7.4% - 48.9%) are synthesized to study the effects of polydispersity on…
The key parameter controlling the glass transition of colloidal suspensions is $\varphi$, the fraction of the sample volume occupied by the particles. Unfortunately, changing $\varphi$ by varying an external parameter, \textit{e.g.}…
The complexation of plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) and thermoresponsive microgels is widely exploited for applications, but a microscopic description of the mechanisms governing the spatial organization of the NPs is still lacking. Combining…
We developed functional surfaces of laser-microstructured silicon coated with blends of polystyrene (PS) and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) and we study their switching wetting behavior between hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity. Large…
Micelles and vesicles are promising candidates in targeted drug/gene delivery, bioreactors, and templates for nanoparticle synthesis. We investigated the morphology and dynamics of PEG-PDMS-PEG triblock copolymer nano-scale assemblies…
We provide experimental and numerical evidence of a new class of soft nanocolloids: star-like microgels with thermoresponsive character. This is achieved by using the standard precipitation polymerization synthesis of…
In this article we introduce the MARTINI model of a widely used thermoresponsive polymer, Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide). Importantly, our model takes into account polymer's stereoregularity (i.e. tacticity). We highlight the effect of…