Themed collection Soft Matter Emerging Investigators

28 items
Editorial

Soft Matter emerging investigators 2017

This issue of Soft Matter highlights the work of emerging investigators in the field of soft matter. Dr Neil Hammond, Executive Editor of Soft Matter, introduces the issue.

Graphical abstract: Soft Matter emerging investigators 2017
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Review Article

Clogging of microfluidic systems

We review how micrometer-scale particles in suspension can form clogs in microfluidic systems and modify the fluid flow.

Graphical abstract: Clogging of microfluidic systems
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Review Article

Ion specificities of artificial macromolecules

In this review, we discuss the ion specificities of artificial macromolecules based on direct and indirect ion–macromolecule interactions.

Graphical abstract: Ion specificities of artificial macromolecules
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Review Article

Chain conformations and phase behavior of conjugated polymers

Knowledge of the chain conformations and phase behavior of conjugated polymers is synthesized as starting points for better understanding the structure–property relationships of this class of materials.

Graphical abstract: Chain conformations and phase behavior of conjugated polymers
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Review Article

Colloidal heat engines: a review

Stochastic heat engines can be built using colloidal particles trapped using optical tweezers.

Graphical abstract: Colloidal heat engines: a review
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Review Article

Off-equilibrium surface tension in miscible fluids

When two miscible fluids are brought in contact, an effective off-equilibrium surface tension arises that controls the shape and the evolution of their interface. We review more than a century of investigations of the effective surface tension in molecular and complex fluids.

Graphical abstract: Off-equilibrium surface tension in miscible fluids
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Communication

Active diffusion of model chromosomal loci driven by athermal noise

The active dynamics of chromosomes in living cells is investigated based on the notion of tension propagation.

Graphical abstract: Active diffusion of model chromosomal loci driven by athermal noise
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Paper

Drop morphologies on flexible fibers: influence of elastocapillary effects

A drop of liquid deposited between two flexible fibers exerts a capillary force that leads to a collapsed state at small angle.

Graphical abstract: Drop morphologies on flexible fibers: influence of elastocapillary effects
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Open Access Paper

Shape oscillations of particle-coated bubbles and directional particle expulsion

Ultrasound waves drive shape oscillations of particle-coated microbubbles. During the ultrafast, non-uniform deformation of the interface, particles are expelled from the antinodes of the shape oscillations.

Graphical abstract: Shape oscillations of particle-coated bubbles and directional particle expulsion
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Lectureship Winners
Paper

Dynamic dilution exponent in monodisperse entangled polymer solutions

We study the linear viscoelastic properties and the dilution effect of entangled linear chains diluted in oligomers or in real solvents.

Graphical abstract: Dynamic dilution exponent in monodisperse entangled polymer solutions
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Paper

Compression of hard core–soft shell nanoparticles at liquid–liquid interfaces: influence of the shell thickness

Hard core-soft shell nanoparticles show a rich structural behavior under compression when confined at a fluid interface and present crucial differences to fully deformable hydrogel particles.

Graphical abstract: Compression of hard core–soft shell nanoparticles at liquid–liquid interfaces: influence of the shell thickness
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Lectureship Winners
Paper

Tunable hygromorphism: structural implications of low molecular weight gels and electrospun nanofibers in bilayer composites

Tunable hygromorphic responses achieved in bilayer composites derived from electrospun mats and low molecular weight gelators.

Graphical abstract: Tunable hygromorphism: structural implications of low molecular weight gels and electrospun nanofibers in bilayer composites
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Paper

Thermoresponsive microgels at the air–water interface: the impact of the swelling state on interfacial conformation

Poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) (PVCL) is a new temperature-responsive type of polymer microgel with improved biocompatibility as compared to more commonly used poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM).

Graphical abstract: Thermoresponsive microgels at the air–water interface: the impact of the swelling state on interfacial conformation
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Paper

Self-assembly of colloidal micelles in microfluidic channels

The self-assembly of amphiphilic Janus colloids in microfluidic channels under Poiseuille flow is studied using computer simulations. The aggregates grow in the weakly sheared channel center, whereas a distinct cluster breakup occurs in strongly sheared channel regions.

Graphical abstract: Self-assembly of colloidal micelles in microfluidic channels
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Paper

Dynamics of a microorganism in a sheared viscoelastic liquid

In this paper, we investigate the dynamics of a model spherical microorganism, called squirmer, suspended in a viscoelastic fluid undergoing unconfined shear flow.

Graphical abstract: Dynamics of a microorganism in a sheared viscoelastic liquid
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Paper

Curing and viscoelasticity of vitrimers

Epoxy/carboxylic acid-based vitrimers relax stress in two steps.

Graphical abstract: Curing and viscoelasticity of vitrimers
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Paper

Self-assembly of repulsive interfacial particles via collective sinking

We consider how interactions between many floating, electrically charged particles modify the interaction energy: interfacial deformations due to many particles are larger than those of an isolated particle. This leads to a larger binding energy than would be expected based on the pair-wise interaction potential.

Graphical abstract: Self-assembly of repulsive interfacial particles via collective sinking
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Open Access Paper

Drainage dynamics of thin liquid foam films containing soft PNiPAM microgels: influence of the cross-linking density and concentration

We investigate the drainage dynamics of thin liquid foam films containing PNiPAM microgel suspensions with two cross-linking densities (1.5 and 5 mol% BIS) and at two microgel concentrations (0.1 and 1% wt).

Graphical abstract: Drainage dynamics of thin liquid foam films containing soft PNiPAM microgels: influence of the cross-linking density and concentration
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Paper

Multiscale directed self-assembly of composite microgels in complex electric fields

Alternating complex electric fields were employed to direct the self-assembly of spherical and ellipsoidal composite microgels to create, among other structures, 2D hexagonal arrays of vertically aligned ellipsoidal particles and 3D rewritable structures.

Graphical abstract: Multiscale directed self-assembly of composite microgels in complex electric fields
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Open Access Paper

Sub-nanometre mapping of the aquaporin–water interface using multifrequency atomic force microscopy

Multifrequency atomic force microscopy is used to gain sub-nanometre insights into the structure of aquaporin 0 and its interface with the surrounding water.

Graphical abstract: Sub-nanometre mapping of the aquaporin–water interface using multifrequency atomic force microscopy
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Open Access Paper

Sticking and sliding of lipid bilayers on deformable substrates

Supported lipid membranes exhibit two different stress response mechanisms to substrate deformation.

Graphical abstract: Sticking and sliding of lipid bilayers on deformable substrates
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Paper

Thermodynamics and phase behavior of acid-tethered block copolymers with ionic liquids

Block copolymers carrying acid groups exhibited rich phase sequences with the addition of ionic liquid in which the cation/anion ratio in the ionic liquid exerted profound effects on the segregation strength and topology of the self-assembled structures.

Graphical abstract: Thermodynamics and phase behavior of acid-tethered block copolymers with ionic liquids
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Paper

Solvent vapor annealing in block copolymer nanocomposite films: a dynamic mean field approach

By employing a new computational framework, we show that the nanoparticle distribution after solvent annealing in block copolymer thin films depends on the solvent evaporation rate.

Graphical abstract: Solvent vapor annealing in block copolymer nanocomposite films: a dynamic mean field approach
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Paper

Cooperative strings in glassy nanoparticles

Motivated by recent experimental results on glassy polymer nanoparticles, we develop a minimal theoretical framework for the glass transition in spherical confinement.

Graphical abstract: Cooperative strings in glassy nanoparticles
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Paper

Apparent contact angle and contact angle hysteresis on liquid infused surfaces

The apparent contact angle and contact angle hysteresis of a droplet on liquid infused surfaces have strong dependence on the relative size between the droplet and its surrounding wetting ridge.

Graphical abstract: Apparent contact angle and contact angle hysteresis on liquid infused surfaces
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Paper

Excitation of vibrational soft modes in disordered systems using active oscillation

We introduce a new method to excite a specific mode (left) as obtained in the normal mode analysis (right), but with much lower computational and memory costs.

Graphical abstract: Excitation of vibrational soft modes in disordered systems using active oscillation
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Paper

Coalescence of electrically charged liquid marbles

We investigated the electro-coalescence of two liquid marbles and systematically characterized the effects of different operating parameters on it.

Graphical abstract: Coalescence of electrically charged liquid marbles
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
Paper

Topological structure prediction in binary nanoparticle superlattices

Systems of spherical nanoparticles with capping ligands have been shown to self-assemble into beautiful superlattices of fascinating structure and complexity.

Graphical abstract: Topological structure prediction in binary nanoparticle superlattices
From the themed collection: Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
28 items

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