IF 2.9 3区化学

Soft Matter Pub Date : 2025-02-25 DOI: 10.1039/d4sm00705k

Lathika Vaniyan, Pallab Kumar Borah, Galina E Pavlovskaya, Nick Terrill, Joshua E S J Reid, Michael Boehm, Philippe Prochasson, Reed A Nicholson, Stefan Baier, Gleb E Yakubov

{"title":"Wet spinning of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose-sodium caseinate hydrogel fibres: relationship between rheology and spinnability.","authors":"Lathika Vaniyan, Pallab Kumar Borah, Galina E Pavlovskaya, Nick Terrill, Joshua E S J Reid, Michael Boehm, Philippe Prochasson, Reed A Nicholson, Stefan Baier, Gleb E Yakubov","doi":"10.1039/d4sm00705k","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d4sm00705k","url":null,"abstract":"Mimicking the fibrous structures of meat is a significant challenge as natural plant protein assemblies lack the fibrous organisation ubiquitous in mammalian muscle tissues. In this work, wet-spun hydrogel fibres resembling the anisotropic fibrous microstructure of meat are fabricated using carboxymethyl cellulose as a model polysaccharide and sodium caseinate as a model protein which are crosslinked using 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide (EDC). Hydrogels and spun fibres were characterised using a combination of rheology (shear, oscillatory, and extensional), microscopy (light, polarised, and fluorescence), rheo-NMR, and X-ray diffraction. Examination of structuring behaviour under shear uncovered a relationship between enhanced biopolymer orientation along the fibre axis and a viscoelastic time-dependent ageing window for optimal hydrogel spinnability. This study provides novel rheological and structural insights into mechanisms of protein-polysaccharide assembly that may prove instrumental for development of tuneable fibres for applications in plant-based foods, tissue engineering, and biomaterials.","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143490185","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Experimental models for cohesive granular materials: a review.

IF 2.9 3区化学

Soft Matter Pub Date : 2025-02-25 DOI: 10.1039/d4sm01324g

Ram Sudhir Sharma, Alban Sauret

{"title":"Experimental models for cohesive granular materials: a review.","authors":"Ram Sudhir Sharma, Alban Sauret","doi":"10.1039/d4sm01324g","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d4sm01324g","url":null,"abstract":"Granular materials are involved in most industrial and environmental processes, as well as many civil engineering applications. Although significant advances have been made in understanding the statics and dynamics of cohesionless grains over the past decades, most granular systems we encounter often display some adhesive forces between grains. The presence of cohesion has effects at distances substantially larger than the closest neighbors and consequently can greatly modify their overall behavior. While considerable progress has been made in understanding and describing cohesive granular systems through idealized numerical simulations, controlled experiments corroborating and expanding the wide range of behavior remain challenging to perform. In recent years, various experimental approaches have been developed to control inter-particle adhesion that now pave the way to further our understanding of cohesive granular flows. This article reviews different approaches for making particles sticky, controlling their relative stickiness, and thereby studying their granular and bulk mechanics. Some recent experimental studies relying on model cohesive grains are synthesized, and opportunities and perspectives in this field are discussed.","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143490184","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Demixing of an active-passive binary mixture through a two-dimensional elastic meshwork.

IF 2.9 3区化学

Soft Matter Pub Date : 2025-02-25 DOI: 10.1039/d4sm01443j

Ramanand Singh Yadav, Rajarshi Chakrabarti

引用次数: 0

Escape from the predator-induced flow: smart prey strategies with steering and swimming actions.

IF 2.9 3区化学

Soft Matter Pub Date : 2025-02-25 DOI: 10.1039/d4sm01399a

Bocheng Li, Jingran Qiu, Lihao Zhao

{"title":"Escape from the predator-induced flow: smart prey strategies with steering and swimming actions.","authors":"Bocheng Li, Jingran Qiu, Lihao Zhao","doi":"10.1039/d4sm01399a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d4sm01399a","url":null,"abstract":"Plankton can sense fluid signals generated by predators and escape from them. This study explores the escape strategies using reinforcement learning (RL). The predator, modeled as a squirmer, generates flows to capture the prey entering its ciliary band. The squirmer mode characterizes the generated flow, and the higher mode corresponds to more and smaller-scale vortices. The motions of prey swimmers in the squirmer-induced flow are obtained using a Lagrangian point-particle approach. To understand the effects of different prey actions, we examine strategies obtained via Q-learning in three cases, i.e. the swimmers can only steer, only change swimming speeds, or take both actions, respectively. We compose the forth strategy where swimmers determine steering and swimming speeds separately according to the steering-only and swimming-only strategies. We find that the four strategies are all effective in the escape task. The steering-only strategy outperforms the swimming-only strategy, and strategies with both actions surpass those with only one action. The composed strategy surpasses the steering & swimming one in the training flow field. Furthermore, the robustness of strategies to swimmer shapes and flow modes is examined. All strategies are robust against various swimmer elongations. The steering-only strategy is robust in high-mode flows, whereas the swimming-only strategy is robust in low-mode flows. The steering & swimming strategy is robust for all modes, while the composed one is not robust in high-mode flows. This study investigates the possible strategies for plankton to escape from predators, revealing the effectiveness of RL in agent navigation in fluid flows.","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143490183","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Predicting self-assembly of sequence-controlled copolymers with stochastic sequence variation. 预测具有随机序列变化的序列控制共聚物的自组装。

IF 2.9 3区化学

Soft Matter Pub Date : 2025-02-24 DOI: 10.1039/d4sm01219d

Kaleigh A Curtis, Antonia Statt, Wesley F Reinhart

{"title":"Predicting self-assembly of sequence-controlled copolymers with stochastic sequence variation.","authors":"Kaleigh A Curtis, Antonia Statt, Wesley F Reinhart","doi":"10.1039/d4sm01219d","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d4sm01219d","url":null,"abstract":"Sequence-controlled copolymers can self-assemble into a wide assortment of complex architectures, with exciting applications in nanofabrication and personalized medicine. However, polymer synthesis is notoriously imprecise, and stochasticity in both chemical synthesis and self-assembly poses a significant challenge to tight control over these systems. While it is increasingly viable to design \"protein-like\" sequences, specifying each individual monomer in a chain, the effect of variability within those sequences has not been well studied. In this work, we performed nearly 15 000 molecular dynamics simulations of sequence-controlled copolymer aggregates with varying level of sequence stochasticity. We utilized unsupervised learning to characterize the resulting morphologies and found that sequence variation leads to relatively smooth and predictable changes in morphology compared to ensembles of identical chains. Furthermore, structural response to sequence variation was accurately modeled using supervised learning, revealing several interesting trends in how specific families of sequences break down as monomer sequences become more variable. Our work presents a way forward in understanding and controlling the effect of sequence variation in sequence-controlled copolymer systems, which can hopefully be used to design advanced copolymer systems for technological applications in the future.","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143481844","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Precisely controlled colloids: a playground for path-wise non-equilibrium physics.

IF 2.9 3区化学

Soft Matter Pub Date : 2025-02-24 DOI: 10.1039/d4sm01189a

Cai Dieball, Yasamin Mohebi Satalsari, Angel B Zuccolotto-Bernez, Stefan U Egelhaaf, Manuel A Escobedo-Sánchez, Aljaž Godec

引用次数: 0

Development of colorimetric PEG-based hydrogel sensors for urea detection.

IF 2.9 3区化学

Soft Matter Pub Date : 2025-02-24 DOI: 10.1039/d4sm01500b

Spyridon Efstathiou, Alan M Wemyss, Despina Coursari, Rachel A Hand, Emmett Cullen Tinley, Jane Ford, Stephanie E Edwards, Susan Bates, Richard L Evans, Ezat Khoshdel, David M Haddleton

{"title":"Development of colorimetric PEG-based hydrogel sensors for urea detection.","authors":"Spyridon Efstathiou, Alan M Wemyss, Despina Coursari, Rachel A Hand, Emmett Cullen Tinley, Jane Ford, Stephanie E Edwards, Susan Bates, Richard L Evans, Ezat Khoshdel, David M Haddleton","doi":"10.1039/d4sm01500b","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d4sm01500b","url":null,"abstract":"Urea has environmental, agricultural and clinical importance being present in many bodily fluids including blood, urine, tears and sweat. Monitoring urea levels is crucial, serving as an early warning for many health issues such as dehydration, kidney and liver malfunctions. Herein, semi-interpenetrating network (semi-IPN) poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) based hydrogels (PEG700-DA/PEGx, x = Mn) were developed as sensors for the colorimetric detection of urea. Urea was detected using the urease/phenol red assay where a colorimetric change to fuchsia occurred due to pH shifts. Hydrogels were synthesised through photo-induced free radical polymerisation where the phenomenon of polymerisation-induced phase separation (PIPS) occurred. Both pristine and sensor gels were characterised. Stability and kinetic experiments on free urease were performed giving further insights into the sensors response to urea. Finally, the detection of urea by the naked-eye from model sweat mixtures was successful for concentrations as low as 0.3 mM, while preliminary results from a proposed smartphone-based RGB quantification demonstrated an LOD of 0.8 mM and an LOQ of 2.7 mM in the green channel.","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143481870","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Solvent structure controlled SeedGel formation investigated using miscible binary solvents.

IF 2.9 3区化学

Soft Matter Pub Date : 2025-02-24 DOI: 10.1039/d4sm01306a

Yuyin Xi, Ruipeng Li, William T Heller, Wei-Ren Chen, Kunlun Hong, Aurora A Zemborain, Yun Liu

{"title":"Solvent structure controlled SeedGel formation investigated using miscible binary solvents.","authors":"Yuyin Xi, Ruipeng Li, William T Heller, Wei-Ren Chen, Kunlun Hong, Aurora A Zemborain, Yun Liu","doi":"10.1039/d4sm01306a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d4sm01306a","url":null,"abstract":"Recently, a solvent segregation driven gel (SeedGel) has been demonstrated to be a tunable and versatile way to stabilize bicontinuous structures in a binary solvent. Here, the structure properties of the SeedGel prepared with two miscible solvents, 3-methylpyridine (3MP)/water and deuterated 3MP (d-3MP)/water, are systematically investigated using ultra-small angle neutron scattering (USANS), small angle X-ray and neutron scattering (SAXS and SANS). The structures of samples prepared with 3MP/water show similar behavior to one previous SeedGel prepared with lutidine/water. Interestingly, the deuteration of 3MP significantly shifts the gelation temperature of the SeedGel. The results also demonstrate that both components of the binary solvent can be exchanged between the formed two domains of a SeedGel when changing the temperature. Importantly, the binary solvent used for the SeedGel preparation does not have to undergo bulk phase transition as a function of temperature. Our results show that the correlation length due to the density fluctuation of the binary solvent is about the same at the gelation transition temperature for all studied SeedGels prepared with different binary solvents. Thus, this correlation length seems to be a key controlling parameter for SeedGel formation. It is noted that this observation not only holds in binary solvents that show a bulk phase separation but also exists in miscible binary solvents without bulk phase separation. The results here thus open a window to prepare SeedGels with a new set of binary solvents that may have been overlooked before and provide guidance for choosing appropriate miscible binary solvents that can be used to prepare SeedGels.","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143481850","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Facially amphiphilic skeleton-derived antibacterial crown ether/silver ion complexes.

IF 2.9 3区化学

Soft Matter Pub Date : 2025-02-24 DOI: 10.1039/d4sm01192a

Qingsheng Wang, Wen Huang, Qian Sun, Mengqi Le, Lili Cai, Yong-Guang Jia

{"title":"Facially amphiphilic skeleton-derived antibacterial crown ether/silver ion complexes.","authors":"Qingsheng Wang, Wen Huang, Qian Sun, Mengqi Le, Lili Cai, Yong-Guang Jia","doi":"10.1039/d4sm01192a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d4sm01192a","url":null,"abstract":"Silver and its derivatives have been widely explored for their antibacterial properties in the treatment of bacterial infections. However, the biological toxicity of silver limits its further development and application. In this study, we designed a facially amphiphilic skeleton incorporating crown ether moieties based on the dendrimer D-CA6-CE. The high-density crown ether units within this structure enable the chelation of silver ions, forming facially amphiphilic skeleton-derived D-CA6-CE/Ag+ complexes. These results indicate that D-CA6-CE/Ag+ can self-assemble into nano-micelles in aqueous solution. D-CA6-CE/Ag+ exhibited high antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, significantly reducing the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of Ag+ to 6.13 ± 0.19 and 7.33 ± 0.13 μg mL-1, respectively. This antibacterial efficacy surpassed that of silver sulfadiazine, primarily attributed to the enhanced ability to disturb and destroy bacterial membranes by introducing the amphiphilic structure of the cholic acid units. In addition, D-CA6-CE/Ag+ also exhibited lower hemolysis (approximately four times lower) and reduced cytotoxicity compared to silver sulfadiazine. This was likely due to the micellar structure formed by D-CA6-CE/Ag+, which further decreases the direct contact between Ag+ and cells. In summary, the D-CA6-CE/Ag+ complex, with its facially amphiphilic skeletons, exhibited superior antibacterial performance and lower biological toxicity than silver sulfadiazine does. These properties highlight its potential as a promising candidate for the treatment of bacterial infections.","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143481875","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

A torrent intercepts the ionic flow in a polyelectrolyte solution.

IF 2.9 3区化学

Soft Matter Pub Date : 2025-02-24 DOI: 10.1039/d4sm01381f

Kaito Watanabe, Sayaka Naya, Yoshifumi Yamagata, Keisuke Miyamoto, Mika Kawai, Tetsu Mitsumata

引用次数: 0

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