Archive for September, 2010

Hot Article: Suction of hydrosoluble polymers into nanopores

A team led by Hervé Duval at Ecole Centrale Paris, France, has reported the forced penetration of large hydrosoluble polymer chains through pores in a membrane.

Graphical abstract: Suction of hydrosoluble polymers into nanopores

The team measured the rejection coefficient Robs from retentate and permeate mean concentrations, and its corrected value R including polymer accumulation at the membrane. The variations of R as a function of solvent flow rate per pore in adimensional units collapse into the same curve well fitted by de Gennes’ “suction model”. This curve, universal for flexible polymers in good solvents, leads to an estimate of the critical penetration flow.

Interested to know more? Read the full article here:

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Hot Article: The characterisation of polygalacturonic acid-based layer-by-layer deposited films using a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring, a dual polarization interferometer and a Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer in attenuated total reflectance mode

Scientists at the Institute of Food Research, Norwich, UK, examined the growth of polymer mass of polygalacturonic acid-based multilayers using a range of acoustic and optical techniques.

Graphical abstract: The characterisation of polygalacturonic acid-based layer-by-layer deposited films using a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring, a dual polarization interferometer and a Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer in attenuated total reflectance mode

The comparative study showed that the different techniques give quantitatively different results when used to measure what is nominally the same quantity (multilayer hydrated mass and polymer mass).

Interested to know more? Read the full article here: Marta Westwood, Timothy R. Noel and Roger Parker, Soft Matter, 2010, DOI:10.1039/C0SM00331J

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Announcing the themed issue on the Dynamics and Rheology of Fluid Interfaces

We are delighted to announce a high-profile themed issue on the Dynamics and Rheology of Fluid Interfaces to be published in 2011. Professor Gerald Fuller (Stanford University, USA) and Professor Jan Vermant (K.U. Leuven, Belgium) are the Guest Editors and it is our pleasure to invite you to submit to this themed issue.

Now in its sixth year of publication, Soft Matter has quickly been established as the platform where biologists, colloid scientists, physicists, polymer scientists, chemical engineers, chemists, and materials scientists can present work for interdisciplinary inspiration. We have published several themed issues on other important emerging topics in recent years, and it now seems particularly timely to publish a focused set of articles covering the Dynamics and Rheology of Fluid Interfaces. The key aim is to highlight the most important areas and directions in this field within a high quality and high impact issue.

The deadline for the receipt of manuscripts for this themed issue is 15th February 2011.

Submissions, either communications or full papers, should be high-quality manuscripts of original, unpublished research, containing important new insight. All submissions will be subject to rigorous peer review to meet the usual high standards of Soft Matter. Accepted manuscripts will be shown to the Guest Editors to ensure they are suitable for the scope of the theme issue.

Manuscripts can be submitted using our online submission service. Please state in your covering letter that your article was submitted in response to the Call for Papers for the themed issue on the Dynamics and Rheology of Fluid Interfaces.

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Hot Article: Dynamics of a deformable self-propelled particle in three dimensions

Japanese scientists at Kyoto University have studied the dynamics of a self-propelled particle in three dimensions by solving the time-evolution equations for the center of mass and a tensor variable characterizing deformations around a sphere.

Graphical abstract: Dynamics of a deformable self-propelled particle in three dimensions 

There are successive bifurcations in the dynamics caused by changing the parameters. A straight motion becomes unstable and a rotating motion on a plane appears. After this rotating motion becomes unstable, a helical motion occurs. A linear stability analysis of these solutions is carried out to determine the bifurcation thresholds, which is in a good agreement with the numerical results.

Read the full paper: Tetsuya Hiraiwa, Kyohei Shitara and Takao Ohta, Soft Matter, 2011, DOI:10.1039/C0SM00856G

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Nominations for the 2011 Prizes and Awards are now open

The RSC currently presents around 60 prestigious Prizes and Awards annually to scientists in all the main chemical science disciplines allowing for the greatest range of scientists to be recognised for their work; individuals, teams and organisations working across the globe.

There are nine categories of awards including specific categories for Industry and Education so whether you work in business, industry, research or education recognition is open to everyone.

Our Prizes and Awards represent the dedication and outstanding achievements in the chemicals sciences and are a platform to showcase inspiring science to gain the recognition deserved.

Do you know someone who has made a significant contribution to advancing the chemical sciences?

View our full list of Prizes and Awards and use the online system to nominate yourself or colleagues.

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Hot Article: Cassie–Wenzel and Wenzel–Cassie transitions on immersed superhydrophobic surfaces under hydrostatic pressure

Graphical abstract: Cassie–Wenzel and Wenzel–Cassie transitions on immersed superhydrophobic surfaces under hydrostatic pressureThe collapse transition due to water pressure on superhydrophobic surfaces is reversible in the right conditions.

Pontus Forsberg, Fredrik Nikolajeff and Mikael Karlsson from Uppsala University, Sweden, probed the collapse transition on superhydrophobic surfaces completely covered by water, where the air film formed on the surface is closed. The team found that the closed film of trapped air helps stabilise the Cassie state at low pillar densities and that the effect of a small change in pillar sidewall angle can drastically change the collapse behaviour. They also observed the reverse transition, from Wenzel to Cassie state, on densely pillared surfaces at low water pressure.

Read the full article here: Pontus Forsberg, Fredrik Nikolajeff and Mikael Karlsson, Soft Matter, 2010, DOI:10.1039/C0SM00595A

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Hot Article: Heterogeneity of the electrostatic repulsion between colloids at the oil–water interface

Electrostatic interactions are a common and important form of interaction in soft matter. In this paper Bum Jun Park, Jan Vermant and Eric M. Furst measure the interactions between colloids at a decane-water interface using optical tweezers. The team also used Monte Carlo simulations to understand the effect of heterogeneity on the equilibrium suspension structure.

Graphical abstract: Heterogeneity of the electrostatic repulsion between colloids at the oil–water interfaceThe electrostatic repulsive force has the expected dependence on particle separation for a dipole–dipole interaction but exhibits a distribution of magnitudes in which the force depends on the particle pairs tested and sample preparation method.

Read the full article here: Bum Jun Park, Jan Vermant and Eric M. Furst, Soft Matter, 2010, DOI:10.1039/C0SM00485E

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Soft Matter poster prize winners at Gordon Research Conference on Biointerface Science

Congratulations to Stephanie Walter (Northwestern University), Jules VanDersarl (Stanford University), Dr Verónica San Miguel Arnanz (Max-Planck-Institut für Polymerforschung) and Mirjam Leunissen (FOM Institute AMOLF) who won the Soft Matter poster prizes at the Gordon Research Conference on Biointerface Science. The conference was held on 5th – 10th September in Les Diablerets, Switzerland.

Photo of Soft Matter poster prize winners

The poster prize winners from left to right: Mirjam Leunissen, Stephanie Walter, Verónica San Miguel Arnanz and Jules VanDersarl.

The titles of the winning posters were:

Stephanie Walter: Structure and Binding Interactions of Surface-Bound DNA Studied with Nonlinear Optics

Jules VanDersarl: Mechanics of 2D clathrin assemblies on lipid monolayers

Dr. Verónica San Miguel Arnanz: Wavelength-responsive Surfaces

Mirjam Leunissen: Lose & Gain: The entropy game for surfaces interacting through tethered binding groups

Many thanks to the conference chair, Professor Phillip Messersmith (Northwestern University) for helping to judge the posters.

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Hot Article: Lipid bilayers on topochemically structured planar colloidal crystals: a versatile platform for optical recording of membrane-mediated ion transport

A team of US Scientists from the University of California, Davis, have demonstrated how membrane architecture and a functionalized colloidal crystal can be used for optical measurement of transmembrane ionic transport.

Graphical abstract: Lipid bilayers on topochemically structured planar colloidal crystals: a versatile platform for optical recording of membrane-mediated ion transport

The team led by Atul Parikh say their experimental design also opens practical possibilities for parallel measurements that may be useful for the characterization of stochastic transport processes and high-throughput measurements.

Read the full article here:
Adrian M. Brozell, Sean Inaba and Atul N. Parikh, Soft Matter, 2010, DOI:10.1039/C0SM00535E

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Hot Article: Injectable solid hydrogel: mechanism of shear-thinning and immediate recovery of injectable β-hairpin peptide hydrogels

A team led by Darrin Pochan, University of Delaware, Newark, USA, studied hydrogel behavior during and after stress-induced flow to discover the underlying mechanisms of the gel shear-thinning and healing processes.

Hydrogel solids have significant potential for use in injectable therapies as they stay localized at the region of injection but don’t require surgery.

Graphical abstract: Injectable solid hydrogel: mechanism of shear-thinning and immediate recovery of injectable β-hairpin peptide hydrogels

Results of structural analysis during flow were related to bulk rheological behavior and indicated gel network fracture into large (>200 nm) hydrogel domains during flow. After cessation of flow the large hydrogel domains are immediately percolated which immediately reforms the solid hydrogel…

Read the full article here: Congqi Yan, Aysegul Altunbas, Tuna Yucel, Radhika P. Nagarkar, Joel P. Schneider and Darrin J. Pochan, Soft Matter, 2010, DOI: 10.1039/C0SM00642D

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