Related papers: Polymer packaging and ejection in viral capsids: s…
We present the results of a quantitative study of the phase behavior of a model polymer chain with side spheres using two independent computer simulation techniques. We find that the mere addition of side spheres results in key…
Electrospun polymer jets are imaged for the first time at an ultra-high rate of 10,000 frames per second, investigating the process dynamics, and the instability propagation velocity and displacement in space. The polymer concentration,…
We provide a two dimensional deformation model to describe how soft squishy circular particles respond to external forces and collisions. This model involves formulating mathematical equations and algorithms for the shape of a deformed…
The purpose of this study is to inspect the combined effect of reinforcement shape and packing on the macroscopic behaviour of particulate composites. The introduced micromechanical approach modifies the Morphologically Representative…
The rheology of coextruded layered films of polystyrene/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PS/PMMA) has been studied with small and large amplitude oscillations at a temperature above their glass transition. While the complex viscosity remains…
A fresh approach to the data from experiments with hard sphere colloids yields seminal insights into the glass transition. The precise determination of the fraction of particles caged by their neighbours is unprecedented and provides…
Particle shape is a critical parameter that plays an important role in self-assembly, for example, in designing targeted complex structures with desired properties. In the last decades an unprecedented range of monodisperse nanoparticle…
We investigate the motion of two overlapping polymers with self-avoidance confined in a narrow 2d box. A statistical model is constructed using blob free-energy arguments. We find spontaneous segregation under the condition: $L > R_{//}$,…
Three-dimensional discrete numerical simulation is used to investigate the properties of close-packed frictionless granular assemblies as a function of particle polydispersity and shape. Unlike some experimental results, simulations show…
Bacteriophages infect cells by attaching to the outer membrane and injecting their DNA into the cell.The phage DNA is then transcribed by the cell's transcription machinery.A number of physical mechanisms by which DNA can be translocated…
Polymer fibers are currently exploited in tremendously important technologies. Their innovative properties are mainly determined by the behavior of the polymer macromolecules under the elongation induced by external mechanical or…
In this study, we investigate both experimentally and computationally the molecular interactions of two distinct polymers with graphene. Our experimental findings indicate that the use of a polymer mixture reduces the transfer induced…
We propose a simple model for the kinetics of packaging of viral DNA in to a capsid against an external force trying to prevent it. The model leads to a Butler-Volmer type dependence of the rate of packaging on the pulling force F.
Soft colloids allow to explore high density states well beyond random close packing. An important open question is whether softness controls the dynamics under these dense conditions. While experimental works reported conflicting results,…
We study jammed configurations of hard spheres as a function of compression speed using an event-driven molecular dynamics algorithm. We find that during the compression, the pressure follows closely the metastable liquid branch until the…
Polymer translocation is a promising strategy for the next-generation DNA sequencing technologies. The use of biological and synthetic nano-pores, however, still suffers from serious drawbacks. In particular, the width of the membrane layer…
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…
The behavior of mesoscopic particles dissolved in a dilute solution of long, flexible, and nonadsorbing polymer chains is studied by field-theoretic methods. For spherical and cylindrical particles the solvation free energy for immersing a…
Spatial configurations of randomly charged polymers, known as polyampholytes (PAs), are very sensitive to the overall excess charge Q. Analytical arguments, supported by Monte Carlo simulations and exact enumeration studies, lead to the…
The cellular uptake of nanoparticles or viruses requires that the gain of adhesion energy overcomes the cost of plasma membrane bending. It is well known that this leads to a minimal particle size for uptake. Using a simple deterministic…