软凝聚态物质

Critically elastic materials - those that are rigid with a single state of self-stress - can be generated from parent systems with two states of self-stress by the removal of one of many constraints. We show that the elastic moduli of the…

Suspensions of swimming bacteria interact hydrodynamically over long ranges, organizing themselves into collective states that drive large-scale chaotic flows, often referred to as "bacterial turbulence". Despite extensive experimental and…

Simulating interactions between non-spherical colloidal particles is computationally challenging due to the complex dependency of forces and energies on their geometry. We introduce and evaluate both descriptor-based and end-to-end models…

When dissolved, weak electrolytes only partially dissociate into ions in a temperature-dependent process. We show herein that such incomplete dissociation yields an enormous thermoelectric response in an electrolyte-filled nanochannel along…

Accurate quantification of local packing density and mixing in simulations of particulate systems is essential for many industrial applications. Traditional methods which simply count the number of particle centres within a given volume of…

We study large deformations of hyperelastic membranes using a purely two-dimensional formulation derived from basic balance principles within a modern geometric setting, ensuring a framework that is independent of an underlying…

Chemical communication, response, and feedback are key requirements for the function of adaptive materials with life-like properties. However, how communication on the single cell-level impacts the collective structural, dynamical and…

We mathematically model Smectic-A (SmA) phases with a modified Landau-de Gennes (mLdG) model. The orientational order of the SmA phase is described by a tensor-order parameter $\mathbf{Q}$, and the positional order is described by a real…

We study the influence of intrinsic noise on the structure and dynamics of responsive colloids (RCs) which actively change their size and mutual interactions. The colloidal size is explicitly resolved in our RC model as an internal degree…

The motion of microorganisms in their natural habitat is strongly influenced by their propulsion mechanisms, geometrical constraints, and random fluctuations. Here, we study numerically the first-passage-time (FPT) statistics of…

We present experiments demonstrating tube formation in giant unilamellar vesicles that are suspended in a bath of swimming E. coli bacteria. We chose the lipids such that the bacteria have no adhereing interaction with the membrane. The…

Microplastics (MPs), though less dense than water, are frequently recovered from sediments in aqueous environments, indicating they can cross the buoyancy barrier. We quantify eco-corona mediated MP-sediment attraction and MP transport from…

Unlike classical elasticity, where stresses arise from deformations relative to a stress-free reference configuration, rigidity in amorphous systems is maintained by disordered force networks that generate internal prestress. Previously, we…

The major challenge in determining a hyperelastic model for a given material is the choice of invariants and the selection how the strain energy function depends functionally on these invariants. Here we introduce a new data-driven…

Disordered athermal biopolymer materials, such as collagen networks that constitute a major component in extracellular matrices and various connective tissues, are initially soft and compliant but stiffen dramatically under strain. Such…

We experimentally investigate the impulsive shock propagation caused by an impact into vertically oriented 3D granular packings under gravity. We observe a crossover of wave propagation, from sound excitation at low impact to shock front…

We investigate a trapping mechanism for passive Brownian particles based on mixtures with self-propelled dipolar colloids. Active dipoles, whose magnetic moment is oriented perpendicularly to their propulsion direction, spontaneously form…

In the past fifteen years, flow instabilities reminiscent of the Taylor-like instabilities driven by hoop stresses, have been observed in wormlike micelles based on surfactant molecules. In particular, purely elastic instabilities and…

Efficient mixing of fluids is essential in many practical applications to achieve homogeneity. For microscopic systems, however, both diffusion and turbulence are ineffective methods to achieve chaotic mixing due to the low Reynolds number,…

We consider a simple thermodynamically consistent model that captures the self-organized chemomechanical coupling resulting from the interplay between autocatalytically reacting surfactants, the Marangoni effect and wetting dynamics. An…