Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Soft Matter welcomes new Advisory Board members Bradley Olsen and Thomas Epps III

We are delighted to welcome two new Advisory Board members to the Soft Matter team: Bradley Olsen (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA) and Thomas Epps III (University of Delaware, USA).

Bradley Olsen Thomas Epps III Advisory Board Soft Matter

I hope you’ll join us in giving a warm welcome to Bradley and Thomas in their new posts as Soft Matter Advisory Board members.

Bradley Olsen’s interests lie in investigating the relationships between molecular structure and self-assembly, applying concepts from block copolymer assembly and polymer gels in order to understand complex biohybrid materials. His research endeavours to extend the capability of soft materials such as engineering plastics, energy converters, catalysts, and biomedical hydrogels. One of his recent articles will be featured as part of Soft Matter’s upcoming web collection to celebrate the journals 10th Anniversary.

Take a look at Bradley Olsen’s recent Soft Matter papers and learn more about his research:

Celebrating Soft Matter‘s 10th Anniversary: Chain configuration and rate-dependent mechanical properties in transient networks
Michelle K. Sing, Zhen-Gang Wang, Gareth H. McKinley and Bradley D. Olsen
Soft Matter, 2015, 11, 2085-2096

Coil fraction-dependent phase behaviour of a model globular protein–polymer diblock copolymer
Carla S. Thomas and Bradley D. Olsen
Soft Matter, 2014, 10, 3093-3102

Thomas Epps III focusses on designing, synthesising, and characterising new polymeric materials exhibiting molecular level self-assembly. His research is applicable to a range of fields, such as battery and fuel cell membranes, analytical separations membranes, nanoscale containers and scaffolds for targeted drug delivery and surface responsive materials. His most recent Soft Matter article was highlighted as a Hot article and featured in the 2014 Soft Matter Hot Papers web collection.

Find out more about Thomas Epps III’s research by reading these recent articles:

Biobased building blocks for the rational design of renewable block polymers
Angela L. Holmberg, Kaleigh H. Reno, Richard P. Wool and Thomas H. Epps, III
Soft Matter, 2014, 10, 7405-7424

Poly(methyl methacrylate-block-vinyl-m-triphenylamine): synthesis by RAFT polymerization and melt-state self-assembly
Sarah E. Mastroianni, Joseph P. Patterson, Rachel K. O’Reilly and Thomas H. Epps, III
Soft Matter, 2013, 9, 10146-10154

If you have enjoyed reading Bradley’s and Thomas’s recent articles, why not submit your next paper to Soft Matter?

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Leading Article by Soft Matter 2014 Lectureship Winner

Surface tension and the mechanics of liquid inclusions in compliant solids

Robert W. Style, John S. Wettlaufer, and Eric R. Dufresne

Dufresne et al. graphical abstract

This article proposes a theory of fluid inclusions in soft solids and builds upon experimental findings of a previous paper recently published in Nature Physics – “Stiffening solids with liquid inclusions” doi:10.1038/nphys3181 – which revealed that Eshelby’s foundational theory fails to describe the mechanical response of soft composites. Eshelby’s theory of elastic inclusions is significantly cited and outlines the response of microscopic inclusions within an elastic solid when macroscopically stress is applied. Furthermore, Eshelby’s theory allows the prediction of bulk properties and is fundamental in calculating the stress field in fracture mechanics. It has been widely used in many other areas such as cell biology to predict cell interactions and seismology.

The theoretical study aims to rationalise the experimental results from the previous paper and explain that they were due to the surface tension of the solid-liquid interface, which is completely ignored in established theory.

The work expands previous theories based on strain-dependent surface stresses, relevant to nanoinclusions in stiffer materials, but not for softer materials such as gels.

The group adapted Eshelby’s inclusion theory so that it included surface tension for liquid inclusions in a linear elastic solid, giving both the microscopic behaviour and the macroscopic effects of inclusions in composites. The authors believe that these findings can be applied to a wide variety of soft material systems, especially composites comprising of soft materials such as gels and elastomers.

Full citation information:

Surface tension and the mechanics of liquid inclusions in compliant solids
Robert W. Style, John S. Wettlaufer and Eric R. Dufresne
Soft Matter, 2015, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4SM02413C

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Take 1…minute for chemistry in health

The chemical sciences will be fundamental in helping us meet the healthcare challenges of the future, and we are committed to ensuring that they contribute to their full potential. As part of our work in this area, we are inviting undergraduate and PhD students, post-docs and those starting out their career in industry to produce an original video that demonstrates the importance of chemistry in health.Take 1... minute for chemistry in health

We are looking for imaginative ways of showcasing how chemistry helps us address healthcare challenges. Your video should be no longer than 1 minute, and you can use any approach you like.

The winner will receive a £500 cash prize, with a £250 prize for second place and £150 prize for third place up for grabs too.

Stuck for inspiration? Last year’s winning video is a good place to start. John Gleeson’s video was selected based on the effective use of language, dynamic style, creativity and its accurate content.

The closing date for entries to be submitted is 30 January 2015. Our judging panel will select the top five videos. We will then publish the shortlisted videos online and open the judging to the public to determine the winner and the runners up.

For more details on how to enter the competition and who is eligible, join us at the Take 1… page.

Good luck!

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A simple route to responsive, particle-stabilized foams using bare silica nanoparticles

Web writer Rob Woodward highlights a hot article from the journal


Defined as bubbles of gas in liquid-film matrix, foams are important precursors in the food and cosmetic industry and for the production of macroporous materials. In this report a simple, effective route to silica nanoparticle stabilised responsive aqueous foams has been demonstrated by the Binks group. Stimuli-responsive surface active particles have generated growing interest in recent years, utilising triggers including pH, temperature and light irradiation to create ‘switchable’ foams, i.e. the ability to “switch-off” the foaming capability of the particles. However, the production of responsive surface active particles usually involves surface coating of mineral particles or the complicated synthesis of functional polymer particles.

In order to address this problem Binks et al. utilise the interaction of N’-dodecyl-N,N-dimethylacetamidinium bicarbonate, a responsive surfactant, with anionic silica nanoparticles in water. By exposure to either CO2 or N2 the responsive surfactant can be switched between a cationic species and a surface-inactive neural form, respectively. On the formation of the cationic species, complexation of the surfactant to anionic silica nanoparticle surfaces gives an in situ increase in the hydrophobicity of the silica, yielding surface-active nanoparticles. Agitation of the resulting complexed system gives foams, however, on exposure to N2 the responsive surfactant returns to its neutral state and desorbs from the surface of the silica particles, resulting in desorption of the particles from the water-air interface.

This simple route to switchable particle-stabilized aqueous foams removes the need for the complicated synthesis of particles as ‘bare’ silica nanoparticles can be used. The synergistic effect of the responsive surfactant and the nanoparticles also allows for the production of foams using a much lower concentration of surfactant than in a responsive-surfactant system alone.

Micrographs of the bubbles in foams produced by shaking 10 cm3 of a dispersion of 0.5 wt% particles in a surfactant solution at different concentrations in bottles (25 cm3) taken immediately after shaking. Surfactant concentrations from A to F are: 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.6, 1.0 and 2.0 mM.

To find out more read the full article:

Responsive aqueous foams stabilised by silica nanoparticles hydrophobised in situ with a switchable surfactant

Yue Zhu, Jianzhong Jiang, Zhenggang Cui and Bernie Binks

Soft Matter, 2014, Accepted Manuscript

DOI: 10.1039/C4SM01970A

This post was written by web writer Rob Woodward. Rob is currently based in Imperial College London working in the Polymer and Composite Engineering (PaCE) group. Rob has a background in both responsive polymeric surfactants and microporous organic polymers for carbon capture and storage.

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Soft Matter now indexed in Medline!

We are delighted to announce that Soft Matter has been accepted for inclusion in the prestigious MEDLINE abstracting / indexing service.

All articles published in Soft Matter will now be included, and searchable using PubMed. This will provide even greater visibility to the great research being published in the journal, particularly in the bio/medical communities.

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Happy holidays from Soft Matter!

All of us in the Soft Matter Editorial team would like to wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year! The Editorial office will be closed from 24th December 2013 and will reopen on 2nd January 2014.

We’re really looking forward to 2014, which will see some great themed issues in Soft Matter as well as the 2014 Soft Matter Lectureship (opening for nominations early in the year).

Don’t miss out on all the journal news – follow us on twitter @softmatter and like us on Facebook!

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Poster prize winners at the 2013 International Symposium on Stimuli-Responsive Materials

Many congratulations to the winners at the 2013 International Symposium on Stimuli-Responsive Materials!

Chosen by an independent panel, the winners were: Akira Matsumoto (Institute of Biomaterials and Bioengineering at Tokyo Medical and Dental University) for the Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B & C poster prize, Justin Poelma for Polymer Chemistry and Saemi Oh for Soft Matter (University of California, Santa Barbara).

The symposium which focuses on the field of stimuli-responsive materials from academia, industry, and government took place in October (20 – 22) this year at the Hilton Sonoma Wine Country in Santa Rosa, CA and was co-sponsored by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Akira Matsumoto

Akira Matsumoto receiving his poster prize for Journal of Materials Chemistry A, B, C

Justin Poelma

Justin Poelma receiving his prize for Polmer Chemistry

Saemi Oh winning the Soft Matter poster prize

Follow the latest journal news on Twitter @Softmatter or go to our Facebook page.

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Happy holidays from Soft Matter!

All of us in the Soft Matter Editorial team would like to wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year! The Editorial office will be closed from 21 December 2012 and will reopen on 2 January 2013.

We’re really looking forward to 2013, which will see some great themed issues in Soft Matter as well as the 2013 Soft Matter Lectureship (opening for nominations early in the year).

Don’t miss out on all the journal news – follow us on twitter @softmatter and like us on Facebook!

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Top 10 most-read Soft Matter articles in July

This month sees the following articles in Soft Matter that are in the top ten most accessed for July:

Mechanics and physics of hydrogels 
Jian Ping Gong, Wei Hong 
Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 8006-8007 
DOI: 10.1039/C2SM90083A  

Self-assembly scenarios of patchy colloidal particles 
Günther Doppelbauer, Eva G. Noya, Emanuela Bianchi and Gerhard Kahl  
Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 7768-7772 
DOI: 10.1039/C2SM26043C  

Super-tough double-network hydrogels reinforced by covalently compositing with silica-nanoparticles  
Qiang Wang, Ruixia Hou, Yajun Cheng and Jun Fu  
Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 6048-6056 
DOI: 10.1039/C2SM07233E  

Colloidal gelation of oppositely charged particles 
Emily R. Russell, Joris Sprakel, Thomas E. Kodger and David A. Weitz  
Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 8697-8703 
DOI: 10.1039/C2SM25901J 

Colloidal particles at the interface between an isotropic liquid and a chiral liquid crystal  
Anne C. Pawsey, Juho S. Lintuvuori, Tiffany A. Wood, Job H. J. Thijssen, Davide Marenduzzo and Paul S. Clegg  
Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 8422-8428 
DOI: 10.1039/C2SM25434D 

Microfluidic systems for single DNA dynamics  
Danielle J. Mai, Christopher Brockman and Charles M. Schroeder  
Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 10560-10572 
DOI: 10.1039/C2SM26036K  

Reversible adhesion between a hydrogel and a polymer brush  
Guillaume Sudre, Ludovic Olanier, Yvette Tran, Dominique Hourdet and Costantino Creton 
Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 8184-8193 
DOI: 10.1039/C2SM25868D  

Robust superomniphobic surfaces with mushroom-like micropillar arrays  
Seong Min Kang, Sang Moon Kim, Hong Nam Kim, Moon Kyu Kwak, Dong Ha Tahk and Kahp Y. Suh
Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 8563-8568 
DOI: 10.1039/C2SM25879J  

Statistical mechanics for static granular media: open questions  
Massimo Pica Ciamarra, Patrick Richard, Matthias Schröter and Brian P. Tighe 
Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 9731-9737 
DOI: 10.1039/C2SM06898B  

Controlling the self-assembly pathways of amphiphilic block copolymers into vesicles  
Mengying Xiao, Guangjie Xia, Rong Wang and Daiqian Xie  
Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 7865-7874 
DOI: 10.1039/C2SM25281C  

Why not take a look at the articles today and blog your thoughts and comments below.

Fancy submitting an article to Soft Matter? Then why not submit to us today!

To keep up-to-date with all the latest research, sign up for the Soft Matter e-Alert or RSS feeds or follow Soft Matter on Twitter or Facebook.

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Top 10 most-read Soft Matter articles in June

This month sees the following articles in Soft Matter that are in the top ten most accessed for June:

Magnetic emulsions with responsive surfactants  
Paul Brown, Craig P. Butts, Jing Cheng, Julian Eastoe, Christopher A. Russell and Gregory N. Smith 
Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 7545-7546 
DOI: 10.1039/C2SM26077H 

Chemical approaches to synthetic polymer surface biofunctionalization for targeted cell adhesion using small binding motifs 
Guillaume Delaittre, Alexandra M. Greiner, Thomas Pauloehrl, Martin Bastmeyer and Christopher Barner-Kowollik  
Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 7323-7347 
DOI: 10.1039/C2SM07407A 

Design and properties of supramolecular polymer gels  
Atsushi Noro, Mikihiro Hayashi and Yushu Matsushita  
Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 6416-6429 
DOI: 10.1039/C2SM25144B 

Static wetting on deformable substrates, from liquids to soft solids  
Robert W. Style and Eric R. Dufresne  
Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 7177-7184 
DOI: 10.1039/C2SM25540E 

Mechanics of morphological instabilities and surface wrinkling in soft materials: a review  
Bo Li, Yan-Ping Cao, Xi-Qiao Feng and Huajian Gao  
Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 5728-5745 
DOI: 10.1039/C2SM00011C 

Model, self-assembly structures, and phase diagram of soft Janus particles  
Zhan-Wei Li, Zhong-Yuan Lu, Zhao-Yan Sun and Li-Jia An  
Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 6693-6697 
DOI: 10.1039/C2SM25397F 

The conundrum of gel formation by molecular nanofibers, wormlike micelles, and filamentous proteins: gelation without cross-links?  
Srinivasa R. Raghavan and Jack F. Douglas  
Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 8539-8546 
DOI: 10.1039/C2SM25107H 

Biocompatible and biodegradable polymersomes as delivery vehicles in biomedical applications  
Gong-Yan Liu, Chao-Jian Chen and Jian Ji  
Soft Matter, 2012, Advance Article 
DOI: 10.1039/C2SM25721A 

A novel technique for micro-patterning proteins and cells on polyacrylamide gels 
Xin Tang, M. Yakut Ali and M. Taher A. Saif  
Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 7197-7206 
DOI: 10.1039/C2SM25533B 

Wet granular matter: a truly complex fluid  
Stefanie Strauch and Stephan Herminghaus  
Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 8271-8280 
DOI: 10.1039/C2SM25883H 

Why not take a look at the articles today and blog your thoughts and comments below.

Fancy submitting an article to Soft Matter? Then why not submit to us today!

To keep up-to-date with all the latest research, sign up for the Soft Matter e-Alert or RSS feeds or follow Soft Matter on Twitter or Facebook.

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