Related papers: Polymer networks at surfaces
The formation of chain-folded structures from the melt is observed in molecular dynamics simulations resembling the lamellae of polymer crystals. Crystallization and subsequent melting temperatures are related linearly to the inverse…
We investigate wrinkling of two-dimensional random and triangular semiflexible polymer networks under shear. Both types of semiflexible networks exhibit wrinkling above a small critical shear angle, which scales with an exponent of the…
Mesh-like structures, such as mucus gel or cytoskeleton networks, are ubiquitous in biological systems. These intricate structures are composed of cross-linked, semi-flexible bio-filaments, crucial to numerous biological processes. In many…
An investigation of the effect of surface diffusion in random deposition model is made by analytical methods and reasoning. For any given site, the extent to which a particle can diffuse is decided by the morphology in the immediate…
Attractive colloidal particles can form a disordered elastic solid or gel when quenched into a two-phase region, if the volume fraction is sufficiently large. When the interactions are comparable to thermal energies the stress-bearing…
We investigate the behaviour of randomly cross-linked (co)polymer blends using a combination of replica theory and large-scale molecular dynamics simulations. In particular, we derive the analogue of the random phase approximation for…
The new concept of multilevel network is introduced in order to embody some topological properties of complex systems with structures in the mesoscale which are not completely captured by the classical models. This new model, which…
The aggregation of protein-stabilised emulsions leads to the formation of emulsion gels. These soft solids are classically envisioned as droplet-filled matrices. Here however, it is assumed that protein-coated sub-micron droplets contribute…
We present an experimentally guided, multi-phase, multi-species polyelectrolyte gel model to make quantitative predictions on the electro-chemical properties of articular cartilage. The mixture theory consists of two different types of…
We study the elasticity of cross-linked networks of thermally fluctuating stiff polymers. As compared to their purely mechanical counterparts, it is shown that these thermal networks have a qualitatively different elastic response. By…
Conjugated polymers are observed to aggregate in solution. To account for this observation we propose a inter-chain binding mechanism based on the intermolecular tunneling of the delocalized $\pi$-electrons occurring at points where the…
Soft particles display highly versatile properties with respect to hard colloids, even more so at fluid-fluid interfaces. In particular, microgels, consisting of a cross-linked polymer network, are able to deform and flatten upon adsorption…
Thermo-mechanical properties of polymer networks depend on functionality of the monomer precursors -- an association that is frequently exploited in materials science. We use molecular simulations to generate spatial networks from…
Hydrogels have had a profound impact in the fields of tissue engineering, drug delivery, and materials science as a whole. Due to the network architecture of these materials, imbibement with water often results in uniform swelling and…
Colloidal gels are a prototypical example of a heterogeneous network solid whose complex properties are governed by thermally-activated dynamics. In this Letter we experimentally establish the connection between the intermittent dynamics of…
Using molecular dynamics simulations we study the temperature-density phase diagram of a simple model system of particles in two dimensions. In addition to translational degrees of freedom, each particle has two internal states and…
This paper discusses the elastic behavior of polyelectrolyte networks. The deformation behavior of single polyelectrolyte chains is discussed. It is shown that a strong coupling between interactions and chain elasticity exists. The theory…
We investigate the phenomenon of multilayer formation via layer-by-layer deposition of alternating charge polyelectrolytes. Using mean-field theory, we find that a strong short-range attraction between the two types of polymer chains is…
Constitutive equations are derived for the time-dependent behavior of particle-reinforced elastomers at isothermal loading with finite strains. A rubbery polymer is modelled as a network of macromolecules bridged by junctions which can slip…
We show that smoothing of multiaffine surfaces that are generated by simulating a crosslinked polymer gel by a frustrated, triangular network of springs of random equilibrium lengths [G.M. Buend{\'\i}a, S.J. Mitchell, P.A. Rikvold, Phys.…