Themed collection 2016's most accessed Soft Matter articles
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Using Brownian motion to measure shape asymmetry in mesoscopic matter using optical tweezers
We quantify the asymmetry of single optically trapped red blood cells from the cross-correlation between their rotational and translational Brownian motion.
Soft Matter, 2016,12, 5077-5080
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00264A
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The stabilizing effect of shear thinning on the onset of purely elastic instabilities in serpentine microflows
We determine both experimentally and numerically the onset of elastic flow instabilities in viscoelastic polymer solutions with different levels of shear thinning.
Soft Matter, 2016,12, 6167-6175
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00326E
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Glass transitions in native silk fibres studied by dynamic mechanical thermal analysis
Silks are a family of semi-crystalline structural materials, spun naturally by insects, spiders and even crustaceans.
Soft Matter, 2016,12, 5926-5936
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00019C
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Diffusive properties of solvent molecules in the neighborhood of a polymer chain as seen by Monte-Carlo simulations
The influence of both polymer chain length and concentration on the mobility of solvent molecules in polymer solutions was studied by Monte Carlo simulations with the use of the dynamic lattice liquid (DLL) model.
Soft Matter, 2016,12, 5519-5528
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00569A
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Population-balance description of shear-induced clustering, gelation and suspension viscosity in sheared DLVO colloids
Explosive growth of the viscosity in colloidal suspensions of electrostatically stabilized particles exposed to high shear forces.
Soft Matter, 2016,12, 5313-5324
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM01097K
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Polyelectrolyte/surfactant films spread from neutral aggregates
We describe a new methodology to prepare loaded polyelectrolyte/surfactant films at the air/water interface by exploiting Marangoni spreading resulting from the dynamic dissociation of hydrophobic neutral aggregates dispensed from an aqueous dispersion.
Soft Matter, 2016,12, 5304-5312
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00637J
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Kinetics of formation of bile salt micelles from coarse-grained Langevin dynamics simulations
Bile monomers can leave bile micelles rapidly, which may enable solubilization mechanisms not possible with head–tail surfactants.
Soft Matter, 2016,12, 5172-5179
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00763E
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Coupled instabilities of surface crease and bulk bending during fast free swelling of hydrogels
This work investigates the mechanical coupling of surface instability and bulk bending.
Soft Matter, 2016,12, 5081-5088
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00578K
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Double-network hydrogels improve pH-switchable adhesion
For environmentally-switchable adhesive systems to be reused repeatedly, the adhesive strength must not deteriorate after each adhesion cycle.
Soft Matter, 2016,12, 5022-5028
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00656F