Themed collection Soft Matter Open Access Spotlight 2026

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Active fluids confined in thin cuboidal chambers transition from chaotic, turbulence-like flow to shear-dominated flow when imposed stresses exceed intrinsic active stresses, revealing how stress competition governs their response to external shear.

Control over spatial concentration fields represents a fundamental challenge in designing synthetic biological systems and programmable soft materials.

This study investigates the complex molecular dynamics of discotic liquid crystals by comparing two structurally similar compounds: hexakis(hepta-alkanoyloxy)triphenylene and hexakis(hexa-alkyloxy)triphenylene.

In cholesterics with pitch p, colliding dislocations with Burgers vectors b = p and b = −p form stable twin-like pairs, known as Lehmann clusters, which are immune against annihilation for topological reasons.

When modelling diffusion kinetics, the exact solutions for Fick's second law can be obtained by integration of Crank's equations. The provide more accurate diffusion constants compared to commonly used approximations.

Exploring the rheological properties of lipsticks through a multiscale experimental approach: from microstructure to cracking behavior.

Needle-based injection techniques are widely used in drug delivery, diagnostics, and soft material characterization, yet the mechanical influence of the insertion process on the ensuing injection behavior remains poorly understood.

Establishing a theoretical bridge between polymers and surfaces through the study of ribbons of variable width.

A microfluidic compression device for studies of living tissue mechanics. A FEM simulation shows piston deflection under the applied pressure, along with a microscopic image of a collagen embedded tumor spheroid with/without compression.

A single-formulation water-based and industrially scalable reversible adhesive was prepared from polyelectrolyte emulsions containing clays.

Colloidal stability of micro- and nano-plastics influences interactions with human cells. These effects can be measured as a function of DNA damage repair via mitochondrial function, esterase activity, and oxidative stress.

Near the solid interface, amines segregate and the molecules orient along the substrate, resulting in slower dynamics. After the reaction, isolated fragments, dangling chains, and unreacted monomers remain.

Colloidal transport across biological barriers is modeled to capture roles of kT-scale interactions, hindered diffusion, and equilibrium partitioning, which can enable design of optimal drug particle coatings and comparisons to virus transport.

A growth law for wet foams, which is validated against bubble-scale simulations, predicts a scaling-state size distribution with large numbers of small bubbles, similarly to recent experiments.

Self-powered micropumps to enhance the portability of Lab-on-a-Chip technology.

Two morphologies and two mechanisms: 1. strong bonding that breaks occasionally, and 2. rattling within a cage of neighbors.

Mitochondrial motion in mammalian cells is affected by perturbation of cell energy, the microtubule network and cytoplasmic crowding in different ways, but prolongation of the time that mitochondria stall before longer movements is a main effect.

Particle line tension drives the order–disorder transition in assemblies of soft, deformable particles in two dimensions, while increasing dynamic size dispersity shifts the transition to higher line tension.

We investigate experimentally and theoretically the time-dependent orientation of rod-like colloids undergoing oscillatory extensional flows over a wide range of Péclet and Deborah numbers.

Spider silk exhibits an outstanding range of mechanical properties – this versatility is further enhanced by the combination of two or more silk types in mixed fibre bundles.

Combined measurements from transient grating spectroscopy and indentation are used to measure the Poisson’s ratio of diverse gels and elastomers with high degrees of precision and accuracy. All gels tested are observed to be nearly incompressible.