Themed collection Soft Matter Open Access Spotlight 2026

The perspective review describes the state of art and future directions for understanding and manipulating dynamics of suspended colloidal particles in field-enhanced microscale flows.

Anisotropic structures formed by flow-induced deformation and arrest in aqueous two-phase system (ATPS). Increasing deformation orients the dispersed phase. Once the structure is arrested, this anisotropy is locked in and transferred to the final product.

Coupling electrospinning with photo-induced reactions enables robust, multifunctional nanofibrous materials. This review defines mechanisms and design principles for reactive and scalable fibrous systems.

Yes, animals do have wheels! Their generalized wheel – the “wheel-within” – is used across all clades of life, yet stayed long concealed in plain sight. Only its reinvention in soft robotics opened our eyes to its ubiquitous role in Nature.

Customizable 2.5D microfluidic chips, tailored for rock-on-a-chip studies of pore-scale transport phenomena, are developed using direct laser writing (DLW) and soft lithography.

We experimentally probe whether a consistent effective temperature can characterize the nonequilibrium steady state of a passive tracer driven by a fully athermal active environment.

Direct crack tip strain imaging reveals irreversible plastic zones governing soft material fatigue, both below and above the fatigue threshold.

An experimentally parametrised DPD simulation model for surfactants at oil–water interfaces predicts interfacial tension, surface coverage, and synergistic effects in mixed surfactant systems.

A hierarchical Bayesian framework is developed for the inertial microcavitation rheometry technique to probabilistically select constitutive models and estimate parameters of soft materials from bubble dynamics under ultra-high strain rates.

Solvent topology exhibits a sharp, kernel-dependent connectivity crossover even when amphiphile aggregation evolves smoothly.

We provide a framework for using machine learning classifiers to accurately and efficiently quantify the mechanical properties of soft materials on the nanoscale.

Experimental two-dimensional granular rafts become more brittle following cyclic uniaxial deformation. Boundary conditions enable spatially heterogeneous density change, which is driven by voids that differ in behavior based on their size.

We introduce an active-hinge model to study symmetry-breaking motility in crowded granular channels. The persistence of the motile state, maintained by positive feedback between motion and asymmetry, depends nonmonotonically on packing fraction.

A coupled electro-magneto-hydrodynamic (EMHD) framework, with thermal effects, for a viscoelastic electrolyte (of Phan–Thien–Tanner (PTT) fluid rheology) flowing through a compliant micro-confinement with linearly elastic walls is developed.

Piezoelectric-like signals in hydrated ionic gels are not uniquely diagnostic of intrinsic polarization. Electrochemical, electrokinetic, and viscoelastic mechanisms can produce similar responses, as clarified by model-guided experiments.

The Uniaxial Tensile Tester for UltraThin films quantifies the stress–strain response of Bacillus subtilis pellicle biofilms treated with metal cations.

Ferroelectric nematics DIO, RM734, and FNLC919 under shear exhibit three regimes as shear rate increases: flow alignment at low rates, polydomains at intermediate rates and log-rolling with polarization along the vorticity axis at high rates.

Recombinant fusion proteins (ODH–Z_E) self-assemble into enzymatic protein vesicles. Encapsulated in larger vesicles, they act as artificial organelles, revealing how compartmentalization regulates metabolic reactions.

During crosslinking, the interaction between two blocks of diblock copolymers determines the structure of the resulting single chain nanoparticles (SCNPs). Attraction leads to compact SCNPs, while negligible attraction provides ladder-like patterns.

Raman and IR spectra reveal non-linear chemical changes during microplastic weathering. We demonstrate that using just one technique can lead to misinterpreting a polymer's aging state, underscoring the need for complementary data.

Atomistic simulations reveal that a single methyl substituent suppresses nematic ordering in phenyl benzoate mesogens by trading local conformational entropy for global orientational order.

We investigate the self-assembly of two-dimensional dodecagonal quasicrystals driven by cyclic shear, effectively replacing thermal fluctuations with plastic rearrangements.

Poroelastic fluid outflow dominates stress relaxation in biopolymer networks. A balance between compression-driven advection and diffusion regulates the availability of growth factors and subsequent tumor proliferation in computational simulations.

The charge of macroions such as colloids and membranes can often be regulated by reversible ion adsorption or dissociation reactions.

The tracking of micrometer-scale rods in proximity to active nematic films provides a new perspective for characterizing spatio-temporal correlations in the nematic order and for measuring hydrodynamic forces generated by the films.

Force-driven spheroids in confinement reveal rich and intricate dynamics determined by particle aspect ratio, strength of confinement, and fluid inertia.

Quasi-2D droplets pushed by fluid have predictable breakup behavior against cylindrical obstacles.

This study uses ²³Na NMR and quadrupolar relaxation modelling to quantify Na⁺ partitioning between bulk water, aggregates, and micelles in decanoate solutions, revealing weak binding below the CMC and stronger association at higher concentration.

Why do drying drops bloom like flowers? We show that this 3D deformation is a buckling process driven by radial pressure gradients induced by water flow through the deposit. The deposit thickness governs the final curvature.

Ultra-thin elastic capsules behave as droplets with tunable surface tension. Hydro-elastic waves reveal membrane tension, establishing “elasto-drops” as a model system for tension-dominated soft interfaces.

Emulsion droplets with liquid or gelled internal phases show similar impact dynamics but diverge during spreading and drying. Internal gelation suppresses late-stage spreading and produces rugged, interconnected deposits instead of isolated residues.

A simple framework using only single-bead mobility and the wave-vector-dependent viscosity gives explicit formulas for the parallel and perpendicular mobilities of a dimer.

MD simulations and SCFT calculations to predict phase diagrams for pentablock copolymers with conformationally asymmetric blocks modeled as chains with unequal stiffness or bead diameters.

In soft materials, a clear relationship between material properties and human sensory perception has long been desired for design of consumer products, but the link has remained evasive.

Energy-dependent helicase activity and RNA secondary structure work together to preserve an initial nonequilibrium state of condensate homogeneity and dynamics.

For randomly crosslinked elastomers, coarse-grained MD shows that strength is set by network topology (cycle rank), whereas toughness depends on effective chain ratio and strand-length uniformity, providing a rational design strategy for elastomers.

Reconfigurable microporous ionene networks that pair permanent PIM porosity with intrinsic ionic self-healing. Hierarchical ionic interactions govern structure, dynamics, and gas transport, offering general design rules for adaptive soft materials.

Oscillatory AFM measures the viscoelastic properties of samples, yielding advantages over traditional AFM when measuring biological tissues or materials.

Doping achiral organoplatinum complexes into a chiral nematic liquid crystal yields emissive materials exhibiting strong circularly polarized luminescence. The helical structure enables continuous, reversible CPL switching under a DC electric field.

Microstructure and force network changes in a model dense suspension undergoing shear thickening.

Temperature-driven deformation of smectic liquid crystal microstructures reveals reversible transitions between umbrella-like and disc-like structures.

We report a simple and robust method for generating centimeter-sized lipid vesicles (ultra-giant lipid vesicles, UGLVs) that serve as stable chemical reactors undergoing rhythmic chemical reactions accompanied by chemical waves.

Motile Dictyostelium cells spontaneously internalize glass microrods. The resulting cell–rod composites align their velocity vectors with the rod axis and show enhanced migration persistence.

Two mechanisms for film deposition during the electrolyte dipping process are examined.

For particles confined to a spherical interface, shape anisotropy changes the dominate lattice. The incompatibility between lattice symmetry and interface topology leads to a variety of defects with varying morphology and distribution.

Water droplets coalesce on liquid-crystal-infused surfaces via the same three-stage pathway as on slippery lubricant-infused porous surfaces (SLIPS), with ridge-mediated damping tuning the coalescence dynamics.

The mechanical and rheological properties of jammed packings of frictionless particles under shear strain remain not fully understood, even when the strain amplitude is very small and well below the yielding threshold.

Time–salt–charge density superposition reveals charge-density-dependent salt sensitivity in the complex coacervation of high-molecular-weight, semiflexible polyelectrolytes.

MβCD-mediated cholesterol incorporation into emulsion-based GUVs quantified in situ using environment-sensitive fluorescent dyes.

While the autonomous assembly of hard nanoparticles with different shapes has been studied extensively both in experiments and simulations, little is known about systems where particle shape can be dynamically altered.

Addition of very large particles softens the shear-thickening response. The magnitude of this softening increases systematically with particle size.

This work presents new smectogens possessing ferroelectric and antiferroelectric properties and the effect of the partial racemization of chiral molecular chains.

The molecular shape and chemical structure of liquid crystals greatly influence their flourescence properties.

Filler-hydrogel composites exhibit viscoelastc properties with signatures of successive transitions from linear to non-linear elasticity to macroscopic irreversibility with increasing strain amplitude.

A new method combines SEM imaging, deep learning, and a robust stereological algorithm to resolve sub-micron pore distributions in powders, outperforming X-ray tomography resolution.

A liquid drop impacting a non-wetting rigid substrate spreads, retracts and rebounds, while an elastic sphere deforms slightly and bounces off. This work bridges these two limits and offers a framework for liquid-to-elastic transitions.

Drying capillary bridges that squeeze microparticles, enlarge contact, and strengthen adhesion.

Osmotic forces alter thermal lipid membrane undulations, with long-wavelength fluctuations at moderate tensions no longer satisfying the well-known equipartition result.

This work resolves a long-standing challenge in 4D printing by enabling simultaneous material agnostic control of both lateral geometry and spontaneous curvature, unlocking a new design space for programmable shape-morphing materials.

Understanding how proteins of different origins behave during drying is essential for controlling the mechanical stability and final structure of protein-based materials.

Colloidal spin ice uses tunable colloids to investigate geometric frustration phenomena. Combining mobile and fixed colloids, we report a charge-ordered topological phase in hexagonal geometry.

Increasing the radius of an activity spot allows a controlled route to active turbulence in an active paranematic fluid by gradually filling in topological defects. An active paranematics is a suspension of rods that exhibits nematic order only under extensile activity.

The trajectory of a 3D-printed polymer microrod swimming in a nematic liquid crystal, as captured under a confocal microscope. The trajectory is helical-like and the rod is propelled by a low, 90 mHz frequency AC electric field of 0.56 V µm⁻¹.

Shear-induced alignment and thermally-driven alignment contribute to the thermochromic behavior of the printed cholesteric liquid crystal; Hydrophobic substrate treatment intensifies its thermochromic response by reducing ink spreading.

Scaling behaviours of unstressed shear moduli.

Using mesoscale Brownian dynamics simulations, we investigate the effect of protein corona morphology on nanoparticle transport and assess the accuracy of equivalent hydrodynamic sphere models in soft matter transport.

We study a crystal composed of active units and discover a circling crystal phase arising from the interplay of self-alignment and chirality.

The synthesis and characterisation of new thioester-containing ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals is reported. Their behaviour is analysed in terms of shape and electronic effects, and compared to that of their ester-linked counterparts.

Our new multiscale model proposes a critical nuclear strain that triggers ZEB2 activation, delayed in human-derived organoids.

A phase change liquid infused surface that enables reversible solid and liquid lubricant state for microplastic localization.