Soft Matter最新文献

{"title":"Local deformation and dynamics of cross-linked hyaluronic acid gels at charged interfaces.","authors":"Sujata Dhakal, Samyuktha Chandrasekar, Adediwura Deborah Adedeji, Svetlana Morozova","doi":"10.1039/d5sm00616c","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5sm00616c","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Hydrogel adhesion is a complex process that involves chain dynamics, thermodynamics, chemistry, and topology. Using fluorescent confocal microscopy in combination with fluorescent differential dynamic microscopy (fDDM), we have determined surface deformation and dynamics of cross-linked hyaluronic acid (HA) gels, equilibrated against 1-1000 mM NaCl solutions, at positively and negatively ionized surfaces. Due to the negative ionization of HA, the gels are repelled from negatively ionized glass surfaces creating a fluid separation layer and repulsion remains unaffected by salt concentration. At these interfaces, the gel network motion is slowed, as determined with fDDM in 167 mM ionic strength. To create positively ionized surfaces, poly-L-lysine is deposited on the glass surface. At higher salt concentrations, surface ionization has little effect, while in lower salt concentrations, the softer gels are compressed 4-6 times by the surface forces. In lower salt concentrations, the surface interactions are less screened and the gels are softer, leading to greater deformation. These results reveal that gel deformation and interfacial dynamics are governed by a delicate interplay between gel modulus, surface ionization, and ionic strength, underscoring the need for new theoretical models to predict soft gel behavior at interfaces and enabling the rational design of gel-based adhesives, coatings, and biointerfaces.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145136025","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}

{"title":"Tuning the size and stiffness of inflatable particles.","authors":"Nidhi Pashine, Dong Wang, Robert Baines, Medha Goyal, Mark D Shattuck, Corey S O'Hern, Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio","doi":"10.1039/d5sm00808e","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5sm00808e","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We describe size-varying cylindrical particles made from silicone elastomers that can serve as building blocks for granular materials with tunable structural and mechanical properties. The particle size variation, which is achieved by inflation, gives rise to changes in stiffness under compression. We design and fabricate inflatable particles that can become stiffer <i>or</i> softer during inflation, depending on key parameters of the particle geometry, such as the ratio of the fillet radius to the wall thickness, <i>r</i>/<i>t</i>. We also conduct numerical simulations of the inflatable particles and show that they only soften during inflation when localization of large strains occurs in the regime <i>r</i>/<i>t</i> → 0. This work introduces novel particle systems with tunable size and stiffness that can be implemented in particle packings for soft robotic applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145129648","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}

{"title":"Activation of colloidal patchy particle networks.","authors":"H J Jonas, N Oikonomeas, P Schall, P G Bolhuis","doi":"10.1039/d5sm00615e","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5sm00615e","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Active physical gels, exemplified by the cytoskeleton in muscle and plant tissues, are characterized by continuous energy injection, leading to rich but poorly understood non-equilibrium physics. Activated self-assembled colloidal architectures consisting of patchy particles and self-propelled particles can provide a well-controlled (experimental) model system that allows exploring the non-equilibrium behavior of such active physical gels. We conduct a numerical investigation of the effect of introducing self-propelled colloids modeled as active Brownian particles into a network-forming colloidal dispersion of dipatch and tripatch particles. We find a rich response of the self-assembled networks upon increasing activity. At low active forces, the networks form inhomogeneous void-rich structures. At medium active force, the network fragments into clusters of chains, and develops broad local density distributions. Finally, at high active force, the system exhibits motility-induced phase separation. These structural and dynamical responses are intimately related to the system's bond probability that can increase or decrease as a function of active force magnitude and direction, as well as attraction strength, affecting both the rate of bond formation and breakage. We discuss how our predictions compare to experiments.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145129565","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}

{"title":"Branching dynamics in electrohydrodynamic instabilities of viscoelastic soft gels.","authors":"Gyandeep Balram, Bhagavatula Dinesh","doi":"10.1039/d5sm00727e","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5sm00727e","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>An electric field imposed on a bilayer of fluids that are stably stratified in the presence of gravity leads to an instability manifested by interfacial deflections. The layer of perfect conductor is simulated using a linear viscoelastic model and the perfect dielectric is considered to be a layer of air. Under neutral conditions, the key dimensionless groups are the dimensionless electric potential, Bond number and the Weissenberg number. The branching behavior upon instability to sinusoidal disturbances is determined by weak nonlinear analysis with the dimensionless potential advanced from its critical value at neutral stability. An analytical expression obtained from weak nonlinear analysis leads to the unintuitive result that sinusoidal deflections can either lead to supercritical saturated waves or lead to subcritical breakup depending on the elasticity of the perfect conductor. The analytical expression also indicates that there is a transition wave number below which supercritical saturation ought to occur, it can be shown that such wave numbers can be geometrically accessed, thus permitting any supercritical saturation to steady waves. In contrast, our results demonstrate that when the perfect conductor is modeled as an Oldroyd-B fluid, the branching remains subcritical in nature, ultimately leading to interface rupture-mirroring the behavior observed in the Newtonian fluid case (as demonstrated by B. Dinesh and R. Narayanan, <i>Phys. Rev. Fluids</i>, 2021, <b>6</b>, 054001).</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145129653","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}

{"title":"Transient interactions and local heterogeneity drive rotational-translational decoupling of nanorods in semidilute mucin solutions.","authors":"Mary Mel Balacuit Baynosa, Ashis Mukhopadhyay","doi":"10.1039/d5sm00742a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5sm00742a","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We investigated the rotational and translational dynamics of gold nanorods in semidilute solutions of bovine submaxillary mucin (BSM), a biologically relevant bottlebrush polymer rich in MUC5B. Using fluctuation correlation spectroscopy (FCS), we observe that both translational and rotational motions exhibit anomalous subdiffusion, with the corresponding exponents decreasing systematically with mucin concentration. Mean-square displacement (MSD) analysis reveals a clear crossover from short-time subdiffusion to long-time normal diffusion at low mucin levels, while persistent subdiffusion dominates at higher concentrations. Translational diffusion coefficients show only weak dependence on polymer volume fraction, whereas rotational mobility is markedly constrained, particularly at elevated mucin volume fractions. These results cannot be fully explained by conventional hydrodynamic or obstruction-based theories. Instead, we attribute the observed decoupling between translation and rotation to transient interactions between nanorods and mucin chains, combined with spatial heterogeneity in local polymer density and segmental dynamics. Our findings demonstrate how anisotropic probes can sensitively capture multiscale viscoelastic and structural features of complex biological polymer solutions.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145129592","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}

{"title":"Facile conversion of commercial silicones from thermoset to ultraviolet-set for increased processing versatility.","authors":"Matthew R Jamison, Spencer Pak, Eric J Markvicka, Stephen A Morin","doi":"10.1039/d5sm00700c","DOIUrl":"10.1039/d5sm00700c","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Traditional platinum catalyzed hydrosilation chemistry used in thermoset silicones is ubiquitous in academic labs but has disadvantages in both curing time and the susceptibility of the catalyst to poisoning when exposed to common chemical species. This report presents the simple modification of commercial thermoset polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) kits to yield ultraviolet (UV)-set silicones. The new UV-set characteristics take advantage of thiol-ene click chemistry to allow rapid and efficient curing while maintaining robust crosslinking chemistry supportive of comparable mechanical and chemical properties in the product material. The new UV-set formulation is easy to produce using commercially available reagents that are shelf stable and instantly convert thermoset kits (<i>e.g.</i>, Sylgard 184) to UV-set materials, broadly expanding the operational versatility of these silicones. The simple \"UV part C\" described here offers facile conversion of Sylgard 184 into a UV-set silicone that is compatible with traditional laboratory workflows (<i>e.g.</i>, soft lithography) and applicable to the production of liquid metal composites.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12455931/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123851","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Chirality and concentration govern polycatecholamine self-assembly: a comparative study of dopamine, levodopa, and norepinephrine.","authors":"Alexander J Steeves, Fabio Variola","doi":"10.1039/d5sm00718f","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5sm00718f","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Polycatecholamines (pCAs), including poly(dopamine) (pDA), poly(levodopa) (pLD) and poly(norepinephrine) (pNE), hold enormous potential in biomaterials science in the form of functional coatings and particles due to their adhesive and versatile physicochemical properties. However, while pDA has been extensively studied, the potential of pLD and pNE has yet to be fully explored. To bridge this gap, this study provides a comparative analysis of dopamine (DA), levodopa (LD), L-norepinephrine (L-NE), and racemic norepinephrine (rac-NE), focusing on how precursor chemistry, concentration (0.5 <i>vs.</i> 2.0 mg mL^-1), and NE chirality influence polymerization kinetics and particle formation. By employing dual-wavelength absorbance (450 nm, <i>A</i>₄₅₀; 600 nm, <i>A</i>₆₀₀) measurements, we revealed distinct concentration-dependent effects, with higher concentrations accelerating monomer-to-intermediate transitions and inducing saturation kinetics. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) highlighted particle size evolution, showing how the zwitterionic character of pLD and chirality in pNE affect stability and size distribution. Additionally, we introduced the polymer dispersion ratio (PDR), a novel metric mapping spatial and temporal aggregate distribution, identifying distinct aggregation and sedimentation patterns. Results from this study underscore the critical role of precursor concentration and chirality in shaping the properties of pCA coatings, namely the temporal evolution of the surface-deposited polymer. Ultimately, this framework informs the synthesis and selection of pCAs for biomedical applications, including functional (<i>e.g.</i>, cell-instructive, antibacterial) coatings with tailored topography for implantable devices, drug-eluting platforms, and bioadhesive technologies, while also translating to broader research areas which could benefit from these findings, such as energy storage and environmental remediation, among others.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123786","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}

{"title":"Agarose/PNIPAAm semi-interpenetrating network hydrogels with enhanced mechanical and optical properties for thermoregulating smart windows.","authors":"Chun-Yen Wu, Hong-Ren Jiang","doi":"10.1039/d5sm00707k","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5sm00707k","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We report a novel semi-interpenetrating network (s-IPN) hydrogel fabricated using a simple diffusion method that incorporates poly(<i>N</i>-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) into agarose matrices. The agarose serves as a structural framework while PNIPAAm provides thermoresponsive capability, creating a straightforward, stable, and thermally responsive material for practical applications. This approach notably reduces volume shrinkage from 80-90% (typical of pure PNIPAAm) to approximately 12%, corresponding to only 4% linear thermal contraction, while preserving complete thermoresponsive functionality. The optimized composition (2% agarose/8% PNIPAAm) exhibits approximately 90% visible light transmittance at room temperature while becoming opaque above its lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of 32.1 °C. Thermogravimetric analysis and FTIR spectroscopy reveal enhanced thermal stability and molecular interactions between the agarose and PNIPAAm networks through hydrogen bonding. The properties of the PNIPAAm-agarose s-IPN hydrogel can be systematically controlled by simply adjusting the concentration of each polymer, enabling customization of the smart hydrogel properties. When incorporated into a glass-polymer-glass sandwich structure, these s-IPN hydrogels function effectively as smart window materials, providing autonomous temperature regulation by modulating solar transmittance in response to temperature changes.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123823","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}

{"title":"Biomolecular condensate microstructure is invariant to sequence-encoded molecular and macroscopic properties.","authors":"Daniel Tan, Dilimulati Aierken, Pablo L Garcia, Jerelle A Joseph","doi":"10.1039/d5sm00740b","DOIUrl":"10.1039/d5sm00740b","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Biomolecular condensates, including those formed by prion-like low complexity domains (LCDs) of proteins, are maintained by networks of molecular interactions. Such collective interactions give rise to the rich array of material behaviors underlying condensate function. Previous work has uncovered distinct LCD conformations in condensates <i>versus</i> dilute phases, and recently, single-component LCD condensates have been predicted to exhibit microstructures with \"small-world\" networks-where molecular nodes are highly clustered and connected <i>via</i> short pathlengths. However, a framework linking single-molecule properties, condensate microstructure, and macroscopic material properties remains elusive. Here, we combine molecular simulation and graph-theoretic analysis to reveal that small-world microstructures are inherent properties of LCD-like polymers, whose sequence features impact both molecule-scale conformations and droplet-scale material properties while maintaining a stable network structure. Using a residue-resolution coarse-grained model, we probe condensates comprising naturally-occuring LCD sequences and generalize our findings by varying composition and patterning in binary sequences of hydrophobic and polar residues. We show that non-blocky sequences, including a hydrophobic homopolymer, form condensates with small-world internal networks featuring \"hubs\"-molecules responsible for global connectivity-and \"cliques\", molecular clusters bound by persistent short-ranged associations. Cliques localize near interfaces without a secondary phase transition, suggesting a role in mediating molecular partitioning and condensate aging by tuning interfacial material properties. Moreover, we discover that network small-worldness and droplet surface tension are consequences of sequence length and hydrophobicity. We also track single-molecule structure and dynamics inside condensates, revealing that internal heterogeneity at the single-molecule level is systematically encoded by network topology. Collectively, our work establishes multiscale structure-property relationships in LCD condensates, elucidating general organizing principles of the condensate microstructure that persist with sequence-driven changes in molecular behaviors and material properties.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12455476/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123848","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Real-space observation of salt-dependent aging in LAPONITE® gels.","authors":"Shunichi Saito, Sooyeon Kim, Yuichi Taniguchi, Miho Yanagisawa","doi":"10.1039/d5sm00603a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5sm00603a","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Colloidal gels gradually evolve as their structures reorganize, a process known as aging. Understanding this behavior is essential for fundamental science and practical applications such as drug delivery and tissue engineering. This study examines the aging of low-concentration LAPONITE® suspensions with varying salt concentrations using fluorescence microscopy, scattering imaging, and particle tracking microrheology. Structural heterogeneity appeared earlier at higher salt concentrations, and the average size of aggregates decreased as the salt concentration increased further. Fourier transform analysis corroborated these trends, and scattering images showed similar results. Microrheology revealed distinct dynamics in LAPONITE®-rich and LAPONITE®-poor regions: the poor phase exhibited liquid-like behavior, while the rich phase exhibited gel-like properties. Further analysis suggested the presence of submicron or nanoscale structural heterogeneities within the rich phase. These findings provide insight into how aging and salt concentration shape the structure and dynamics of colloidal gels.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123767","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}