Themed collection Soft Matter Emerging Investigators
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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.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 12-12
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM90197B
Clogging of microfluidic systems
We review how micrometer-scale particles in suspension can form clogs in microfluidic systems and modify the fluid flow.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 37-48
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM01879C
Ion specificities of artificial macromolecules
In this review, we discuss the ion specificities of artificial macromolecules based on direct and indirect ion–macromolecule interactions.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 68-80
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM01773H
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.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 49-67
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00979D
Colloidal heat engines: a review
Stochastic heat engines can be built using colloidal particles trapped using optical tweezers.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 22-36
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00923A
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.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 13-21
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM01026A
Topology of ferroelectric nematic droplets: the case driven by flexoelectricity or depolarization field
Emerging polar nematics exhibits nontrivial topologies in confinement, controlled by the magnitude of the polarization.
Soft Matter, 2024,20, 3392-3400
https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SM01042B
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.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 81-87
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00775A
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.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 134-140
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00921B
![Open Access](https://www.rsc-cdn.org/pubs-core/2022.0.147/content/NewImages/open-access-icon-orange.png)
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.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 125-133
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM01603K
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.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 269-282
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM01083K
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.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 158-169
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM01020B
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.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 283-291
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00749J
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).
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 230-238
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM01375A
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.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 222-229
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00766J
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.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 196-211
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00697C
Curing and viscoelasticity of vitrimers
Epoxy/carboxylic acid-based vitrimers relax stress in two steps.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 258-268
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00707D
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.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 212-221
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00901H
![Open Access](https://www.rsc-cdn.org/pubs-core/2022.0.147/content/NewImages/open-access-icon-orange.png)
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).
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 170-180
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00873A
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.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 88-100
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00857G
![Open Access](https://www.rsc-cdn.org/pubs-core/2022.0.147/content/NewImages/open-access-icon-orange.png)
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.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 187-195
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00751A
![Open Access](https://www.rsc-cdn.org/pubs-core/2022.0.147/content/NewImages/open-access-icon-orange.png)
Sticking and sliding of lipid bilayers on deformable substrates
Supported lipid membranes exhibit two different stress response mechanisms to substrate deformation.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 181-186
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00786D
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.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 250-257
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00947F
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.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 239-249
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00770H
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.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 141-146
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00724D
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.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 101-110
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00920D
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.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 111-118
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00788K
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.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 119-124
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00883F
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.
Soft Matter, 2017,13, 147-157
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM00713A