Opinion
Concepts for soft interfaces
The transfer of soft matter concepts from bulk to interfaces opens a route to design interfaces which respond strongly to external fields.
Perspective
Trimethylamine-N-oxide: its hydration structure, surface activity, and biological function, viewed by vibrational spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations
Vibrational spectroscopy and molecular simulations revealed the hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity of TMAO in aqueous solution.
Paper
Characterisation of hydration and nanophase separation during the temperature response in hydrophobic/hydrophilic elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) diblock copolymers
The temperature dependent nanoscale dehydration of diblock elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) can be tuned through the hydrophobic to hydrophilic block length ratio.
Water film squeezed between oil and solid: drainage towards stabilization by disjoining pressure
The spontaneous drainage of aqueous solutions of salt squeezed between an oil drop and a glass surface is studied experimentally.
Foundation of correlation ellipsometry
An experimental strategy for the detection of fluctuation dynamics at interfaces based on a combination of photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS) with a nulling ellipsometry scheme is investigated theoretically.
Soft matter interactions at the molecular scale: interaction forces and energies between single hydrophobic model peptides
The interaction between single hydrophobic molecules is quantitatively characterized by using an atomic force microscope (AFM).
Controlled and tunable design of polymer interface for immobilization of enzymes: does curvature matter?
Controlled and precise design of polymer interfaces leads to the programmed and rational design of functional adhesive materials, coatings, carriers for catalysts, etc. The grafting density of polymer brush layers has a strong impact on surface charge, swelling ratio, adhesion behavior and effectiveness of enzyme immobilization. There is no direct transferability of the results received from planar to curved substrates.
Electrolytes at interfaces: accessing the first nanometers using X-ray standing waves
Ion–surface interactions are of high practical importance in a wide range of technological, environmental and biological problems.
Surface organization of a DPPC monolayer on concentrated SrCl2 and ZnCl2 solutions
Zn2+ strongly interacts with DPPC molecules, while Sr2+ does not, which could explain their respective enrichment and depletion in sea spray aerosols.
Polyelectrolytes adsorbed at water–water interfaces
Interfacial adsorption of polyelectrolytes provides a new strategy for the stabilization of water-in-water emulsions formed by incompatible polymers.
Paper
A combined 3D and 2D light scattering study on aqueous colloidal model systems with tunable interactions
The near-wall dynamics of charged particles are investigated in aqueous suspensions up to volume fractions close to the isotropic-to-ordered transition.
Abnormal polymer transport in crowded attractive micropost arrays
We investigate polymer diffusion in a quasi-two-dimensional environment decorated with attractive cylindrical posts using Langevin dynamics simulation.
Particle detachment from fluid interfaces: theory vs. experiments
Theory and experiments show that the contact angles of microspheres at oil–water interfaces can be accurately extracted from AFM force–distance curves.