Related papers: Temperature- and Force-Induced beta-Sheet Unfoldin…
As 2D materials such as graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides, and 2D polymers become more prevalent, solution processing and colloidal-state properties are being exploited to create advanced and functional materials. However, our…
We present a novel Monte Carlo simulation of protein folding, in which all heavy atoms are represented as interacting hard spheres. This model includes all degrees of freedom relevant to folding - all sidechain and backbone torsions - and…
Atomistic molecular dynamics simulations have reached a degree of maturity that makes it possible to investigate the lipid polymorphism of model bilayers over a wide range of temperatures. However if both the fluid $L_{\alpha}$ and tilted…
The transition from a weak-disorder (diffusive phase) to a strong-disorder (localized phase) for directed polymers in a random environment is a well studied phenomenon. In the most common setup, it is established that the phase transition…
A statistical mechanical description of flexible and semi-flexible polymer chains in a poor solvent is developed in the constant force and constant distance ensembles. We predict the existence of many intermediate states at low temperatures…
Based on the Zimm-Bragg model we study cooperative helix-coil transition driven by a finite-speed change of temperature. There is an asymmetry between the coil-to-helix and helix-to-coil transition: the latter is displayed already for…
The thermodynamics of proteins indicate that folding/unfolding takes place either through stable intermediates or through a two-state process without intermediates. The rather short folding times of the two-state process indicate that…
We analyze the effect of temperature on the yielding transition of amorphous solids using different coarse-grained model approaches. On one hand we use an elasto-plastic model, with temperature introduced in the form of an Arrhenius…
We investigate -- through simulations and analytical calculations -- the consequences of uniaxial lateral compression applied to the upper layer of few-layer graphene. The simulations of compressed graphene show that strains larger than 2.8…
We propose a new analytic approach to study the phase diagram of random heteropolymers, based on the cavity method. For copolymers we analyze the nature and phenomenology of the glass transition as a function of sequence correlations.…
We propose an exactly solvable simplified statistical mechanical model for the thermodynamics of beta-amyloid aggregation, generalizing a well-studied model for protein folding. The monomer concentration is explicitly taken into account as…
Ab initio investigations of structural, electronic, and dynamical properties of the high-temperature $\beta$ phase of copper pyrophosphate were performed using density functional theory. The electronic band structure shows the Mott…
The presence of stable topological defects in a two-dimensional (\textit{d} = 2) liquid crystal model allowing molecular reorientations in three dimensions (\textit{n} = 3) was largely believed to induce defect-mediated…
The effect of temperature on mechanical unfolding of proteins is studied using a Go-like model with a realistic contact map and Lennard-Jones contact interactions. The behavior of the I27 domain of titin and its serial repeats is contrasted…
As a new class of two-dimensional (2D) materials, 2D covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are proven to possess remarkable electronic and magnetic properties. However, their mechanical behaviours remain almost unexplored. In this work, taking…
Very thin elastic sheets, even at zero temperature, exhibit nonlinear elastic response by virtue of their dominant bending modes. Their behavior is even richer at finite temperature. Here we use molecular dynamics (MD) to study the…
When solids melt while sliding down heated inclines, their motion is governed by a complex coupling between heat transfer, phase change, gravity and viscous dissipation. Despite relevance across a variety of domains, like kitchen physics,…
We address the problem of inverse polymer swelling. This phenomenon, in which a collapsed polymer chain swells upon decreasing temperature, can be observed experimentally in so-called thermoreversible homopolymers in aqueous solution, and…
We study how solidification of model freely rotating polymers under athermal quasistatic compression varies with their bond angle $\theta_0$. All systems undergo two discrete, first-order-like transitions: entanglement at $\phi =…
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…