Soft Matter最新文献

{"title":"Dynamics of emulsion drop impact, spreading and evaporation: the effect of internal phase gelation.","authors":"Mario Cordova-Gonzalez, Parisa Bazazi, S Hossein Hejazi","doi":"10.1039/d6sm00195e","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d6sm00195e","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The dynamics of drop impact, spreading, and evaporation on solid surfaces are fundamental to many processes, including agricultural spraying, printing, combustion, and coating. While these behaviors are well understood for single phase liquids, less is known about emulsions with complex internal structures. Here, we report an experimental study on the dynamics of water-in-oil emulsion droplets containing either liquid or gelled aqueous phases. The continuous phase is composed of <i>n</i>-heptane and Span 80 micelles, while the dispersed phase is a reactive sodium silicate-ammonium bicarbonate solution that undergoes gelation. Internal gelation changes the rheological response of the dispersed phase and therefore modifies dissipation during spreading and drying. During the impact stage, the dynamics are similar for both emulsion types within our experimental resolution, whereas during the subsequent spreading stage, gel-containing emulsions reach smaller wetted areas. Measured maximum spreading factors are broadly consistent with unified inertial-capillary-viscous scaling for water emulsions, while gel emulsions show systematic deviations at higher internal-phase fractions. Bottom-view fluorescence imaging reveals distinct drying patterns: isolated circular deposits for water emulsions and rugged, interconnected structures for gel emulsions. These findings highlight the importance of the internal droplet structure in governing impact and drying dynamics, with implications for a wide range of emulsion-based technologies.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147727776","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":"Dynamics of Marangoni-driven elliptical Janus particles.","authors":"Pabitra Masanta, Ratan Sarkar, P Parmananda, Raghunath Chelakkot","doi":"10.1039/d5sm01270h","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5sm01270h","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We investigate the spontaneous motion of an elliptical Janus particle, driven by Marangoni forces, on a water surface to understand how particle shape and size influence its dynamics. The Janus particle is one-half infused with a substance such as camphor, which lowers the surface tension upon release onto the water surface. The resulting surface tension gradient generates Marangoni forces that propel the particle. For fully camphor-infused (non-Janus) particles, previous studies have shown that motion occurs along the short axis of the ellipse. However, for Janus particles, our experiments reveal a much richer steady-state dynamics, depending on both the particle's eccentricity and size. To understand these dynamics, we develop a numerical model that captures the connection between the spatio-temporal evolution of the camphor concentration field and the Marangoni force driving the particle. Using this model, we simulate the motion of particles with varying eccentricities-from nearly circular to highly elongated shapes. The simulations qualitatively reproduce all the trajectories observed in experiments and provide insights into how particle geometry influences the dynamics of chemically driven anisotropic particles. With the help of the numerical model, we compute a full phase diagram characterising the dynamical states as a function of surfactant properties.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147727799","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":"Diffusion of rod-like particles in complex fluids.","authors":"Władysław Sokołowski, Huma Jamil, Karol Makuch","doi":"10.1039/d6sm00101g","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d6sm00101g","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Diffusion of particles in complex fluids and gels is difficult to describe and often lies beyond the scope of the classical Stokes-Einstein relation. One of the main lines of research over the past few decades has sought to relate diffusivity to a fundamental dissipative property of the fluid: the wave-vector-dependent shear viscosity function. Here, we use linear response theory to extend this viscosity function framework to rod-like particles. Using a dimer (two-bead particle) as a minimal rod-like probe, we derive explicit expressions for its diffusion coefficients parallel and perpendicular to its axis in terms of the viscosity function. We show that this description captures the full range of behaviors, from nearly isotropic diffusion of the rod-like probe to highly anisotropic, reptation-like motion. The method is based on a microscopic statistical-mechanical treatment of the Smoluchowski dynamics, yet leads to simple final formulas, providing a practical tool for interpreting diffusion experiments on rod-like tracers in complex fluids. We also clarify the limitations of this approach, emphasizing that the present formulation is primarily suited to complex liquids like polymer solutions, and only indirectly applicable to gels.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147715345","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":"Wrinkles, rucks, and folds formed in a heavy sheet on a frictional surface.","authors":"Keisuke Yoshida, Hirofumi Wada","doi":"10.1039/d6sm00062b","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d6sm00062b","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Soft elastic sheets resting on rigid surfaces develop wrinkles, rucks, and folds due to the combined influence of elasticity, gravity, and contact interactions. Despite their ubiquity, the principles governing their morphology and transitions remain unclear. We introduce a minimal experiment in which the center of a gravity-loaded sheet is gradually lifted from the supporting plane. This operation generates a clear sequence of shapes: an axisymmetric uplift, a finite number of wrinkles, system-spanning rucks produced by global buckling, and folded states that can arise from ruck collapse upon unloading at larger lifts. Combining experiments, finite-element simulations, and Föppl-von Kármán theory, we establish a unified physical picture of this morphology sequence. In the frictionless case, elasticity and gravity alone govern the response, leading to a universal wrinkling threshold: the wrinkle number is fixed and the onset displacement scales linearly with the sheet thickness. With interfacial friction, the wrinkled state is described by introducing an additional nondimensional parameter that compares frictional and elastic-gravitational forces. These results suggest a simple route to programmable sheet morphogenesis <i>via</i> friction and gravity.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147669303","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":"Structure–rheology–thermal property correlation in graphene oxide reinforced gum acacia-g-poly(acrylic acid) nanocomposite hydrogels","authors":"Pragnesh N. Dave, Sanjay Bamaniya and Pallavi Singh","doi":"10.1039/D6SM00176A","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D6SM00176A","url":null,"abstract":"<p >The rational design of sustainable hydrogel systems with tailored mechanical stability and tunable viscoelastic properties remains a central challenge in soft materials science. This study addresses this challenge through systematic investigation of the rheological behaviour and microstructural characteristics of graphene oxide (GO)–reinforced gum acacia-<em>grafted</em>-poly(acrylic acid) (GA-<em>g</em>-PAA) nanocomposite hydrogels. The GA-<em>g</em>-PAA/GO hydrogels were synthesized <em>via</em> free-radical graft copolymerization using ammonium persulfate as the initiator and <em>N</em>,<em>N</em>′-methylenebisacrylamide as the crosslinker, yielding a covalently crosslinked three-dimensional network. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy reveals a pronounced morphological transition from a loosely packed, heterogeneous structure in the pristine polymer network to a dense, interconnected porous architecture upon GO incorporation, confirming uniform nanofiller dispersion and its role as a structural modulator. Rheological characterization demonstrates pronounced non-Newtonian shear-thinning behaviour across all compositions, with apparent viscosity decreasing from approximately 10<small>³</small>–10<small>⁴</small> Pa s under low shear rates to less than 10 Pa s at 100 s<small>⁻¹</small>. Oscillatory strain and frequency sweep analyses establish elastic-dominant viscoelastic behaviour, as evidenced by storage modulus (<em>G</em>′) values consistently exceeding loss modulus (<em>G</em>″) across the measured frequency range. Notably, at an optimal GO loading (GO-3), <em>G</em>′ exhibits a more than two-fold enhancement, increasing from ∼59 Pa for the pristine hydrogel to ∼131 Pa, indicating a substantial reinforcement of network stiffness. Thermogravimetric analysis further confirms improved thermal stability, reflected in elevated degradation temperatures and increased char yields reaching approximately 26% in GO-reinforced formulations. These property enhancements are attributed to the multifunctional role of GO nanosheets, which act as effective physical crosslinkers, establish strong interfacial interactions with the polymer matrix, restrict segmental mobility, and facilitate efficient stress transfer within the hydrogel network. Collectively, these findings establish controlled GO incorporation as a decisive parameter for engineering the structural integrity, viscoelastic response, and thermal endurance of gum acacia-based hydrogels. The resulting GA-<em>g</em>-PAA/GO nanocomposite hydrogels present a promising platform for advanced applications, including adsorption technologies, injectable and self-healing biomaterials, soft actuators, and stimuli-responsive smart hydrogel systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" 16","pages":" 3090-3108"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147669325","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":"Coupling of electrospinning and photo-induced processes for advanced nanofibrous polymeric materials: current state-of-the-art and future perspectives.","authors":"Thi Nhung Vu, Alessandra Vitale","doi":"10.1039/d6sm00041j","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d6sm00041j","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Electrospinning is a versatile and widely adopted technique for the fabrication of nanofibrous polymeric materials with high surface area, interconnected porosity, and tunable architectures. However, conventional electrospun mats often suffer from limited mechanical robustness, poor resistance to water or solvents, and restricted control over functionality, which hampers their deployment in advanced applications. In recent years, the integration of electrospinning with photo-induced processes has emerged as a powerful strategy to overcome these limitations by enabling controlled polymerization, crosslinking, and surface functionalization under mild and spatially selective conditions. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of the art in coupling electrospinning with photo-induced reactions for the design of advanced nanofibrous polymeric materials. Both <i>in situ</i> photopolymerization during fiber formation and post-spinning photo-induced crosslinking or grafting are discussed, with emphasis on the underlying chemistries, including free-radical (meth)acrylate systems, thiol-ene click reactions, photocycloaddition-based processes, and cationic photopolymerization. Representative examples spanning low-molecular-weight precursors, macromers, polymers, and hybrid organic-inorganic systems are critically analyzed to highlight structure-property-function relationships and processing-reactivity interplay. Beyond summarizing recent advances, this review outlines key challenges and future perspectives, including reaction-jet coupling, scalability, sustainability, and the development of dynamic and multifunctional fibrous systems. By framing electrospinning as a reactive manufacturing platform enabled by photochemistry, this work aims to guide future research toward the rational design and translation of next-generation nanofibrous materials for biomedical, environmental, energy, and smart-material applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147637447","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":"Disentangling microstructural elements of shear thickening suspensions <i>via</i> computer simulations of a minimal model.","authors":"William C J Buchholtz, Daniel L Blair, Jeffrey S Urbach, H A Vinutha, Emanuela Del Gado","doi":"10.1039/d5sm00928f","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d5sm00928f","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We use a minimal model for a dense suspension undergoing thickening and thinning to investigate microstructural changes in 2d simulations. Our simulations show that in steady flow the contact network contains distinct building blocks which are clearly signaled by sharp peaks in the radial distribution function, similar to what is observed in granular jamming. These structures deform during thinning. Non-Gaussian stress fluctuations that only emerge during thickening are associated to power law tails in the distribution of local contact forces, which tend to emerge when the flow-induced building blocks form large spanning assemblies. The subset of the contact network characterized by strong contact forces and connectivity large enough to be rigid or over-constrained is increasingly likely to percolate as the system starts to thicken, and to percolate over larger strain windows during thickening. The tendency of these structures to span the sample and to persist is dramatically reduced during thinning, where instead their deformation allows for a more homogeneous spatial redistribution of contact forces, significantly reducing the fluctuations of the macroscopic stress over time.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147637422","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":"Microscopic measurement of the local deformation field establishes the mechanistic origin of the fatigue threshold for soft brittle materials","authors":"Umut Altuntas, Chenzhuo Li and John Martin Kolinski","doi":"10.1039/D6SM00197A","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D6SM00197A","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Fatigue fracture, whereby a material fails only under repeated loading cycles, depends strongly on load magnitude. In most materials, the applied load must exceed a threshold value – the fatigue threshold – for the crack to advance each cycle. While recent studies clarify the regimes of soft polymer response to cyclic loading, the interplay between crack tip strain fields, irreversible deformation, and energy dissipation remains unclear. Here, we subject polyacrylamide hydrogels and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomers to controlled cyclic loading, while directly resolving crack tip strain fields with particle tracking microscopy. An irreversible deformation zone emerges at the crack tip with a load-amplitude dependent structure. Below the fatigue threshold, the zone is compressive, and progressively accumulates without crack advance; this demonstrates that sub-threshold deformation is not fully reversible. Above threshold, a tensile plastic zone grows and co-propagates with the crack tip. Crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) measurements of the energy release rate <em>G</em> show that the applied strain energy evolves with cycle count under constant stretch amplitude loading. Below threshold, <em>G</em> remains nearly constant; above threshold, expansion of the tensile plastic zone modifies the CTOD geometry, producing a measurable decrease in <em>G</em>. Consistent across both material systems in the brittle limit, these results suggest that irreversible deformation—shielding the crack below threshold and governing growth rate above it—may be a general hallmark of soft brittle material fatigue. These findings open pathways toward rational design of fatigue-resistant hydrogels and elastomers for soft robotics, biomedical devices, and stretchable electronics.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" 17","pages":" 3165-3173"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13085860/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147687195","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":"Recyclable flexible sensors based on digital-light-processing 3D printing of a thermoplastic elastomer and facile transfer of pencil-marked graphite films","authors":"Linkai Wang, Meichen Liu, Dan Guo, Feng Jin, Chenyang Bi, Hui Zhang, Liang Jiang, Shaojuan Chen and Zhong Xiong","doi":"10.1039/D6SM00058D","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D6SM00058D","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Light-based 3D printing has revolutionized the development of flexible strain sensors by enabling the customizable fabrication of geometrically complex structures with high precision. A recyclable elastomer substrate for strain sensors based on photocuring 3D printing is highly desirable from ecological and economic perspectives. However, it is hard to achieve both printability and recyclability simultaneously since crosslinked polymer networks are difficult to reprocess. In this study, in order to recycle the digital-light-processing (DLP)-3D-printed sensor elastomer, a design strategy for fabricating stretchable strain sensors was proposed by combining direct DLP-3D-printing of a thermoplastic poly(isodecyl acrylate)(PIDA)/poly(styrene-<em>b</em>-ethylene–butylene-<em>b</em>-styrene)(SEBS) elastomer and transferring a conductive layer of pencil-marked graphite films onto it. The photoresin for printing was prepared by dissolving commercial thermoplastic elastomer SEBS in monomer IDA without any crosslinker. Attributed to the linear polymer molecular structure and the good mechanical properties of SEBS, the photocured elastomer showed good thermoplasticity and elasticity. The PIDA/SEBS sensor has a wide sensing range (strain: 0–280%) with high sensitivity (gauge factor: 9355). The 3D printed finger sleeve sensor can monitor the movement of finger bending precisely. By erasing the conductive pencil marks, the PIDA/SEBS elastomer can be remolded to prepare a new strain sensor.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" 16","pages":" 3042-3050"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147632072","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":"Interfacial adsorption competing with thermal mixing in confined hydrogen-bonded polymer bilayers.","authors":"Hisashi Tetsutani, Masashi Ohno, Yohei Nakanishi, Tsukasa Miyazaki, Mikihito Takenaka, Norifumi L Yamada, Hideki Seto, Hiroyuki Aoki, Katsuhiro Yamamoto","doi":"10.1039/d6sm00129g","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d6sm00129g","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In confined polymer thin films, interfacial chain adsorption can fundamentally compete with thermally driven interdiffusion, leading to mixing behavior distinct from bulk systems. Here, we investigated ultrathin hydrogen-bonded PMMA/PVPh bilayers on silicon substrates using complementary X-ray reflectivity, <i>in situ</i> neutron reflectivity, and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. Thermal annealing induced progressive interdiffusion and eventual miscibility across the bilayer. However, even after apparent homogenization, a nanometer-thick PVPh-rich layer persisted at the substrate interface and remained resistant to dissolution in a good solvent. Neutron scattering length density profiles revealed that this low-SLD interfacial region survived at elevated temperatures, while surface-sensitive spectroscopy confirmed preferential enrichment and strongly stabilized adsorption of PVPh chains at the oxide interface. These findings demonstrate that strong polymer-substrate interactions can arrest complete interfacial homogenization under confinement, generating asymmetric composition profiles despite bulk miscibility. The results highlight the fundamental role of surface-induced stabilization of adsorbed chains in governing mixing and structural evolution in ultrathin polymer films.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2026-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147626427","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}