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Hypothesis: Introducing charged terminal groups to polymers that graft nanoparticles enables Coulombic control over their assembly by tuning the pH and salinity of aqueous suspensions. Experiments: Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are grafted…

Recent studies have pointed the importance of polyelectrolyte assembly in the elaboration of innovative nanomaterials. Beyond their structures, many important questions on the thermodynamics of association remain to be answered. Here, we…

Using the AKARI, Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data, we investigated the relation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon…

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…

The thermosensitivity and microstructure of microgels made by copolymerizing standard microgel-forming monomers with more hydrophilic comonomers is investigated, with the aim of increasing the volume phase transition temperature (VPTT). We…

Microgel suspensions of Interpenetrated Polymer Network (IPN) of PNIPAM and PAAc in D$_2$O, have been investigated through dynamic light scattering as a function of temperature, pH and concentration across the Volume Phase Transition (VPT).…

Healthy articular cartilage has excellent lubricating properties, with friction coefficients reaching extremely low values at physiological pressures. Such high-performing lubricating layer in joints is attributed to the surface hydration…

The uptake and sorption of charged molecules by responsive polymer membranes and hydrogels in aqueous solutions is of key importance for the development of soft functional materials. Here we investigate the partitioning of simple monoatomic…

Hydrogels are promising systems for separation applications due to their structural characteristics (i.e. hydrophilicity and porosity). In our study, we investigate the permeation of suspensions of rigid latex particles of different sizes…

Thermoresponsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) particles of different sizes are synthesized by varying the concentration of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) in a one-pot method. The sizes, size polydispersities and the…

The long debated protein dynamical transition was recently found also in non-biological macromolecules, such as poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAM) microgels. Here, by using atomistic molecular dynamics simulations, we report a description…

We combine small angle scattering experiments and simulations to investigate the internal structure and interactions of composite Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-Poly(ethylene glycol) (PNIPAM-PEG) microgels. At low temperatures the…

Neutron scattering and molecular dynamics studies were performed on a concentrated aqueous tetramethylammonium (TMA) chloride solution to gain insight into the hydration shell structure of TMA, which is relevant for understanding its…

The ion-lipid interface in Langmuir monolayers of Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) on pure water and 10 mM solutions of Na+ and K+ at different [K+]/[Na+] (a), atom/atom ratios, were studied initially by Surface Pressure (p) versus…

Whereas many studies have examined stabilization of emulsions and foams in low salinity aqueous phases with nanoparticles (NPs) with and without added surfactants, interest has grown recently in much higher salinities relevant to subsurface…

Polyelectrolytes are commonly used to chelate multi-valent ions in aqueous solutions, playing a critical role in water softening and the prevention of mineralization. At sufficient ionic strength, ion-mediated…

When polyelectrolyte-neutral block copolymers are mixed in solutions to oppositely charged species (e.g. surfactant micelles, macromolecules, proteins etc), there is the formation of stable supermicellar aggregates combining both…

Small angle neutron and x-ray scattering methods are used to investigate the structure of dilute suspensions of two different ferrofluid systems dispersed in soft polyacrylamide hydrogels. It is found that the particles in the fluid are…

We present dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements of soft polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) and polyacrylamide(PA) polymer gels prepared with trapped bodies (latex spheres or maghemite nanoparticles). We show that the anomalous…

We study by Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) the structure of Hyaluronan -Lysozyme complexes. Hyaluronan (HA) is a polysaccharide of 9 nm intrinsic persistence length that bears one negative charge per disaccharide monomer (Mmol =…