Related papers: Protein crystals and charged surfaces: interaction…
In this work we identify and study the presence of extremely intense surface resonances that frustrate the coupling of photons into a photonic crystal over crucial energy ranges. The practical utility of photonic crystals demands the…
In this paper we study the electrostatic interaction of a heterogeneously charged wall with a neutral semipermeable membrane. The wall consists of periodic stripes, where the charge density varies in one direction. The membrane is in a…
Heterogeneous nucleation is a process wherein extrinsic impurities facilitate freezing by lowering nucleation barriers and constitutes the dominant mechanism for crystallization in most systems. Classical nucleation theory (\textsc{Cnt})…
Numerical simulations of hydrated proteins show that protein hydration shells are polarized into a ferroelectric cluster with a large magnitude of its average dipole moment. The emergence of this new mesophase dramatically alters the…
Soft matter materials, such as polymers, membranes, proteins, are often electrically charged. This makes them water soluble, which is of great importance in technological application and a prerequisite for biological function. We discuss a…
Recently synthesized colloids and biological systems such as proteins, viruses and monoclonal antibodies are heterogeneously charged, i.e., different regions of their surfaces carry different amount of positive or negative charge. Because…
Charged soft-matter systems--such as colloidal dispersions and charged polymers--are dominated by attractive forces between constituent like-charged particles when neutralizing counterions of high charge valency are introduced. Such…
Electrostatic interactions fundamentally govern the structure, stability, and dynamics of charged (bio)matter, yet the impact of heterogeneous and anisotropic charge distributions on the behavior of protein solutions remains elusive. Here,…
Classical nucleation theory is used to estimate the free-energy barrier to nucleation of the solid phase of particles interacting via a potential which has a short-ranged attraction. Due to the high interfacial tension between the fluid and…
Protein-protein interactions (protein functionalities) are mediated by water, which compacts individual proteins and promotes close and temporarily stable large-area protein-protein interfaces. Proteins are peptide chains decorated by amino…
What makes a material a good ice nucleating agent? Despite the importance of heterogeneous ice nucleation to a variety of fields, from cloud science to microbiology, major gaps in our understanding of this ubiquitous process still prevent…
Physical mechanisms of the interaction of cold plasmas with organic surfaces are discussed. Trapping of plasma ions by the CH2 groups of polymer surfaces resulting in their electrical charging is treated. Polyethylene surfaces were exposed…
Protein chains of the (FG)$_n$ ($n \simeq$ 300) type cap the cytoplasmatic side of the nucleopore complex, which connects the nucleus to the remainder of an eukaryotic cell. We study the properties of three fundamental polymer models that…
We consider a mixture of one neutral and two oppositely charged types of molecules confined to a surface. Using analytical techniques and molecular dynamics simulations, we construct the phase diagram of the system and exhibit the…
Protein crystallization in vivo provides some fascinating examples of biological self-assembly. Here, we provide a selective survey to show the diversity of functions for which protein crystals are used, and the physical properties of the…
Despite recent breakthroughs in understanding how protein sequence relates to structure and function, considerably less attention has been paid to the general features of protein surfaces beyond those regions involved in binding and…
When a particle contacts a surface of another material, it is commonly believed that the particle acquires an impact charge that scales inversely with its pre-impact charge and whose polarity is set by the materials. We show that this…
The crystallization of proteins or colloids is often hindered by the appearance of aggregates of low fractal dimension called gels. Here we study the effect of electrostatics upon crystal and gel formation using an analytic model of hard…
We study, using Monte Carlo simulations, the interaction between charged colloidal particles confined to the air-water interface. The dependence of force on ionic strength and counterion valence is explored. For 1:1 electrolyte, we find…
Electrostatic interaction is the driving force for the encapsulation by virus coat proteins of nanoparticles such as quantum dots, gold particles and magnetic beads for, e.g., imaging and therapeutic purposes. In recent experimental work,…