Themed collection Celebrating the 60th birthday and achievements of Professor Ulli Steiner
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Ulli Steiner: perfect colleague
Soft Matter, 2024,20, 4174-4174
https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SM90067G
Ullrich Steiner: portrait of the scientist as a young student
A brief memoir in honour of Professor Ullrich Steiner’s 60th birthday.
Soft Matter, 2024,20, 3551-3553
https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SM90046D
![Open Access](https://www.rsc-cdn.org/pubs-core/2022.0.147/content/NewImages/open-access-icon-orange.png)
Angle-resolved optical spectroscopy of photonic cellulose nanocrystal films reveals the influence of additives on the mechanism of kinetic arrest
Photonic films produced by cellulose nanocrystal self-assembly offer a sustainable source of colouration. Their angular optical response reveals the suspension conditions at kinetic arrest and how common additives affect this liquid–solid transition.
Soft Matter, 2024,20, 3695-3707
https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SM00155A
Block copolymer self-assembly derived mesoporous magnetic materials with three-dimensionally (3D) co-continuous gyroid nanostructure
This work elucidates a route to mesoporous magnetic materials with co-continuous morphologies from block copolymer self-assembly. The co-continuous structure impacts the magnetic behavior compared to non-structured chemically-identical materials.
Soft Matter, 2024,20, 2767-2776
https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SM01622F
![Open Access](https://www.rsc-cdn.org/pubs-core/2022.0.147/content/NewImages/open-access-icon-orange.png)
Analysis of the peel structure of different Citrus spp. via light microscopy, SEM and μCT with manual and automatic segmentation
The peels of lime, lemon, pomelo and citron are investigated at macroscopic and microscopic level.
Soft Matter, 2024,20, 2804-2811
https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SM01511D
![Open Access](https://www.rsc-cdn.org/pubs-core/2022.0.147/content/NewImages/open-access-icon-orange.png)
Anoplophora graafi longhorn beetle coloration is due to disordered diamond-like packed spheres
While artificial photonic materials are typically highly ordered, biological photonic structures often lack long-range order. We here show that the colours of the scales of a longhorn beetle arise from a non-close-packed, diamond-coordinated assembly of 200-nm-sized chitin spheres.
Soft Matter, 2024,20, 2509-2517
https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SM00068D
![Open Access](https://www.rsc-cdn.org/pubs-core/2022.0.147/content/NewImages/open-access-icon-orange.png)
Unimer suppression enables supersaturated homopolymer swollen micelles with long-term stability after glassy entrapment
Micelle sizes are critical for a range of applications where the simple ability to adjust and lock in specific stable sizes has remained largely elusive.
Soft Matter, 2024,20, 2288-2300
https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SM01754K
![Open Access](https://www.rsc-cdn.org/pubs-core/2022.0.147/content/NewImages/open-access-icon-orange.png)
Mechanochromic polymer blends made with an excimer-forming telechelic sensor molecule
The ability to monitor mechanical stresses and strains in polymers via an optical signal enables the investigation of deformation processes in such materials and is technologically useful for sensing damage and failure in critical components.
Soft Matter, 2024,20, 2126-2131
https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SM01489D
Janus bottlebrush compatibilizers
Bottlebrush random copolymers (BRCPs), consisting of a random distribution of two homopolymer chains along a backbone, can segregate to the interface between two immiscible homopolymers.
Soft Matter, 2024,20, 1554-1564
https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SM01484C
![Open Access](https://www.rsc-cdn.org/pubs-core/2022.0.147/content/NewImages/open-access-icon-orange.png)
Tuning disorder in structurally colored bioinspired photonic glasses
Disorder in a colloidal assembly and the photonic response can be tuned by changing the electric field strength.
Soft Matter, 2024,20, 1620-1628
https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SM01468A
![Open Access](https://www.rsc-cdn.org/pubs-core/2022.0.147/content/NewImages/open-access-icon-orange.png)
Vibrational spectroscopic profiling of biomolecular interactions between oak powdery mildew and oak leaves
Probing biomolecular interactions between a forest foliar pathogen, Erysiphe alphitoides and English oak (Quercus robur) leaves via hybrid Raman spectroscopy and accompanying analytical techniques.
Soft Matter, 2024,20, 959-970
https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SM01392H
![Open Access](https://www.rsc-cdn.org/pubs-core/2022.0.147/content/NewImages/open-access-icon-orange.png)
The adhesion capability of Staphylococcus aureus cells is heterogeneously distributed over the cell envelope
By experiments and simulations on structured surfaces, we show that S. aureus cells have adhesive patches that are heterogeneously distributed across the cell envelope.
Soft Matter, 2024,20, 484-494
https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SM01045G
Tough polycyclooctene nanoporous membranes from etchable block copolymers
Polycyclooctene-polylactide triblock copolymer synthesis and subsequent processing via solvent casting, polylactide etching, and plasma etching to yield tunable and tough nanoporous membranes with high surface porosities and hydrophilic properties.
Soft Matter, 2024,20, 437-448
https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SM01498C
Peptide–polyurea hybrids: a platform for tunable, thermally-stable, and injectable hydrogels
Peptide–polyurea hybrids (PPUs) demonstrate rapid hierarchical assembly into non-covalent hydrogels, which display tunable gel strength, shear recovery, and thermal stability.
Soft Matter, 2023,19, 7912-7922
https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SM00780D
Structural color from pigment-loaded nanostructures
Pigment can efficiently create bright structural colors at wavelengths outside its absorption band.
Soft Matter, 2023,19, 7717-7723
https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SM00961K
About this collection
This collection, in honour of Professor Ulli Steiner’s 60th birthday, is Guest Edited by Stefan Guldin (0000-0002-4413-5527) (University College London), Matthias Kolle (0000-0001-7395-8824) (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Silvia Vignolini (0000-0003-0664-1418) (University of Cambridge) and Bodo Wilts (0000-0002-2727-7128) (Paris Lodron University of Salzburg). Professor Steiner has worked on multiple diverse aspects of soft matter during his long research career and was the founding Chairman of the Editorial Board of Soft Matter. These papers from his network of colleagues celebrates the diversity of Professor Steiner’s scientific vision.