Themed collection Soft Matter Recent HOT Articles

The creation of highly effective oral drug delivery systems (ODDSs) has long been the main objective of pharmaceutical research.

The robust self-cleaning of a lotus leaf is the most classic and powerful phenomenon in nature, whose hybrid papillae and biological wax guarantee its functions.

A self-healing hydrogel that can be stiffened with heat was designed. The synergy of self-healing and thermal hardening properties generated several interesting functions, such as programmable shape memory, impact protection and recyclability.

Introduction of molecular additives can nontrivially not only control the supramolecular chirality, but also control the chirality transfer from one entity to another.

We propose a novel bilayer finite element model incorporating axonal tension in the subcortex. Our results reveal that axonal tension serves as a perturbation that triggers folding and determines the placement of folds.

By experiments and simulations on structured surfaces, we show that S. aureus cells have adhesive patches that are heterogeneously distributed across the cell envelope.

Unambiguous knot classification is a long-standing problem. In this paper, the authors use Machine Learning to classify all knots up to 10 crossings with more than 95% accuracy and also to distinguish knots with multiple identical knot polynomials.

Branched and unbranched inverse worm-like micelles show distinct microstructural differences during transient large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS) as probed by dielectric spectroscopy.

Yield stress fluids can be used as core materials in microencapsulations of field responsive particle suspensions because they hinder particle diffusion and subsequent adsorption to the interface, therefore retaining particle translation and rotation in applied fields.

In this in silico study, we show that phase-separated active nematics form −1/2 defects, contrary to the current paradigm. We also observe and characterize lateral arc-like structures separating from nematic bands and moving in transverse direction.

Mixtures of soybean phosphatidylcholine (SPC) and glycerol diolate (GDO) in aqueous environments form a variety of liquid crystalline nanostructures, which can be used in drug delivery applications.

Multi-particle collision dynamics simulations based on mean-field interactions, conservation laws, and nematohydrodynamics are extended to active nematic liquid crystals to produce consistent dynamic topological structures and fields of orientation and flow.

Exploring how reaction cycles direct the non-equilibrium self-assembly of amphiphilic molecules into cell-like compartments by computer simulations.

We use experiments and numerical simulations to demonstrate that the curvature of microfluidic devices allows for flow programming in liquid crystals.

We extend theories of active nematics to incorporate cell shape changes. Sufficiently active systems display regions of active, elongated cells coexisting with regions of passive, circular cells.

We investigate the interplay between chirality and confinement induced by the presence of an external potential.

In this work, we study the influence of surface tension on light-induced wrinkling of hydrogel disks containing patterned regions of photothermally-active gold nanoparticles at the air–water interface.

Active liquid crystals use topology to create complex structures in curved geometries through mechanical coupling between topological defects and curvature. This links topological defects to morphogenetic events in biological development.

Tracking the three-dimensional rotation of colloidal particles can help to answer many open questions, e.g. concerning the contact interactions between particles under flow, or the way in which obstacles and neighboring particles affect self-propulsion in active suspensions.

Short-chain polystyrenes end-functionalized with [Pt(bzimpy)Cl]⁺ complexes can self-assemble into nanofibers, nanoellipsoids, and nanospheres with internal, sub-10 nm scale lamellar structures together with remarkable luminescence enhancement.

An improved lookup table is introduced based on three-dimensional finite element simulations with a hyperelastic neo-Hookean solid and non-Newtonian fluid to extract the cell stiffness in real-time deformability cytometry (RT-DC).

Lipid bilayers on mesoscale silica nanoparticles are biphasic with evidence for an interdigitated phase on the smallest support (4 nm).

Syneresis of alginate hydrogels is accounted for by a closed-loop mechanism coupling network collapse events with the global solvent flow.

We propose a classical density functional theory model to study the self-assembly of polymeric surfactants on curved surfaces.

A differential scanning calorimeter equipped with a shearing system was developed to elucidate the thermodynamic properties of liquid crystalline materials under shear flow, and the phase transitions of 8CB were investigated.

H₂O–ROH–TiO₂ dispersions cover a broad range of functional inks for several printing techniques.

We reveal significant combined roles of chirality, anisotropic interactions and spatial confinement in regulating the collective behavior of active matter systems.

I show here that chirality introduces twist in the fluctuations of a fully unwound cholesteric layer, which are characterized by a critical slowing down of the decay frequencies when the concentration C of chiral molecules is increased.

A non-linear reduction in percolation threshold from 0.46 to 0.19 vol% by transforming the phase into lamellar structures.

Computer simulations reveal the effects of contour length asymmetry, cavity elongation and polymer width on the organization and dynamics of a system of two polymers in a nanocavity.

Precessing magnetic fields will induce positional ordering of superparamagnetic rods solely due to steric collisions. This transition occurs regardless of what induces precession and leads to synchronization-driven phase separation.

We demonstrate how addition of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP, a non-adsorbing polymer) affects the rheology of concentrated aqueous suspensions of colloidal alumina particles.

We numerically explore diffusiophoretic banding of colloidal particles in two dimensions by spatio-temporally designing solute sources and sinks. We discover an optimal design set by a balance of interpole diffusion and molar rate decay timescales.

Geometric frustration offers a pathway to soft matter self-assembly with controllable finite sizes. Microscopic features of misfitting particle shapes and interactions dictate the nature of inter-assembly stress of frustrated, hyperbolic ribbons.