Soft Matter最新文献

{"title":"Modification of membrane properties using ionic liquids investigated with Langmuir monolayers and bilayers in vesicles†","authors":"Manas Kumar Mandal, Shujiao Chen, Shuai Zhang, Qunhui Yuan and Wei Gan","doi":"10.1039/D5SM00008D","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SM00008D","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Biocompatible and bioavailable ionic liquids (ILs) are generally used to modify the physicochemical properties of lipid monolayers and bilayers. Understanding the influence of ILs on lipid properties and the molecular level mechanism is crucial for applying ILs in lipid membrane modifications. Here the modification of a lipid membrane composed of 1,2-dioleoyl-<em>sn-glycero</em>-3-phosphoglycerol (DOPG) and cholesterol using alkyl methyl imidazolium-based ILs [C<small>_<em>n</em></small>mim]Cl with varied alkyl chains (<em>n</em> = 4, 6, 8 and 10) was investigated. Langmuir monolayers were used to evaluate the influence of the ILs on the rigidity and robustness of the membranes. Then, selected compositions were used to prepare small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs) as nanocarriers. A small amphiphilic molecule (4-(4-diethylaminostyry)-1-methyl-pyridinium iodide, D289) was used as a probe to investigate the loading capability and encapsulation efficiency of the SUVs. The permeability of the lipid membrane to small molecules was also evaluated using second harmonic generation spectroscopy analysis. The different effects of the ILs with increasing chain length imposed on the membranes were compared and analyzed.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" 18","pages":" 3638-3646"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143918861","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":"Electronic interactions of a quatertiophene-based surfactant at the liquid/gas interface","authors":"Changwoo Bae, Kamatham Narayanaswamy, Hisham Idriss, Ludivine Poyac, Indraneel Sen, Sébastien Richeter, Sébastien Clément, Anne-Laure Biance, Samuel Albert and Oriane Bonhomme","doi":"10.1039/D5SM00122F","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D5SM00122F","url":null,"abstract":"<p >We report the synthesis of a functional molecule, a quatertiophene-based surfactant, which can both adsorb at the water/gas interface (surface active molecule) and aggregate through π−π stacking interactions. We assess then the ability of this molecule to create these functionalities at interfaces. This interfacial functional aggregation, characterized here <em>in situ</em> for the first time, is probed thanks to Langmuir trough experiments and spectrometric ellipsometry. These results pave the way to the design of new water based optoelectronic devices.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" 20","pages":" 4101-4116"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2025/sm/d5sm00122f?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143958827","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":"Gating and tunable confinement of active colloids within patterned environments†","authors":"Carolina van Baalen, Stefania Ketzetzi, Anushka Tintor, Israel Gabay and Lucio Isa","doi":"10.1039/D4SM01512F","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SM01512F","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Active colloidal particles typically exhibit a pronounced affinity for accumulating and being captured at boundaries. Here, we engineer long-range repulsive interactions between colloids that self-propel under an electric field and patterned obstacles. As a result of these interactions, particles turn away from obstacles and avoid accumulation. We show that by tuning the applied field frequency, we precisely and rapidly control the effective size of the obstacles and therefore modulate the particle approach distance. This feature allows us to achieve gating and tunable confinement of our active particles whereby they can access regions between obstacles depending on the applied field. Our work provides a versatile means to directly control confinement and organization, paving the way towards applications such as sorting particles based on motility or localizing active particles on demand.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" 19","pages":" 3850-3858"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2025/sm/d4sm01512f?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143944134","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":"Inhomogeneous diffusion in confined colloidal suspensions","authors":"Gerhard Jung, Alejandro Villada-Balbuena and Thomas Franosch","doi":"10.1039/D5SM00120J","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D5SM00120J","url":null,"abstract":"<p >We have performed confocal microscopy experiments and computer simulations of colloidal suspensions with moderate volume fraction confined between two quasi-parallel, rough walls [A. Villada-Balbuena <em>et al.</em>, Soft Matter, 2022, <strong>18</strong>, 4699–4714]. Here we investigate many facets of the dynamical properties of the system, such as confined and inhomogeneous diffusion, mean first-passage times and generalized incoherent scattering functions. We observe that the experiment features strong footprints of the confinement in the dynamical properties, such as inhomogeneous diffusion coefficients and non-zero off-diagonal elements in the incoherent scattering function which we can quantitatively model and analyze with computer simulations. This allows us, for example, to systematically investigate the impact of surface roughness. Our comparative study therefore advances the fundamental understanding of the impact of confinement on dynamics in fluids and colloidal suspensions.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" 20","pages":" 4010-4020"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12038795/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143951496","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":"Advection-dominated transport dynamics of pili and flagella-mediated motile bacteria in porous media†","authors":"Marc Berghouse, Lazaro J. Perez, Andrew Plymale, Timothy D. Scheibe and Rishi Parashar","doi":"10.1039/D5SM00071H","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SM00071H","url":null,"abstract":"<p >The transport of motile bacteria in porous media is highly relevant to many fields, ranging from ecology to human health. Still, critical gaps remain in our understanding of the impacts of hydrodynamics and pore structure on bacterial transport. Here, we present direct visualizations of three species of motile bacteria under variable flow rates and porosities. We find that at higher flow rates, motility is less critical to the transport of bacteria, as motion is controlled by hydrodynamic advection, making it difficult for bacteria to move across streamlines. We show that this lack of motion across streamlines results in increased velocity autocorrelation and bacterial spreading in the direction of flow. Furthermore, we find that transport of bacteria with different motility types are impacted by flow rates to different extents. At low flow rates, the transport of bacteria with pili-mediated twitching motility is strongly controlled by advection, whereas bacteria with flagella still display active motility. At higher flow rates, we show that bacteria with peritrichous flagella maintain their motility characteristics to a greater degree than bacteria with pili or monotrichous flagella. We also examine experimental net speeds of bacteria in relation to the simulated flow fields and find that the interactions between hydrodynamics, motility, and porous media geometry lead to oversampling of medium-velocity regions of a pore network by all three species. The study presents new perspectives on how different types of motile bacteria are transported and dispersed in porous media aided by strength of differentially advecting fluid.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" 18","pages":" 3622-3637"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143918860","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":"Tunable mechanical properties and phase transitions in nanoconfined polyzwitterionic UCST hydrogels†","authors":"Sebastian Loescher, Chen Liang, Remi Plamont, Josef Breu, Olli Ikkala and Hang Zhang","doi":"10.1039/D5SM00317B","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D5SM00317B","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Stimuli-responsive hydrogels with thermal phase transitions serve as pivotal components in advancing biomedical and soft robotics applications. In contrast to widely studied LCST-type thermo-responsive hydrogels, UCST-type hydrogels provide reverse thermo-responses. However, conventional UCST-type hydrogels suffer from weak mechanical properties and fixed phase transition kinetics. Here, we present polyzwitterionic UCST-type hydrogels under coplanar nanoconfinement by large aspect ratio hectorite nanosheets. The nanoconfinement significantly enhances the strength and stiffness of the hydrogels. In addition, the nanosheets serve as kinetic barriers for water diffusion. This regulates the swelling and shrinking kinetics of the polyzwitterionic hydrogels and thus allows for tunable phase transitions dependent on the thermal history of the hydrogels. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the incorporation of gold nanoparticles allows precise control of the optical properties of the hydrogel through photothermal means. These findings pave the way for engineering both the mechanical and thermoresponsive properties in polyzwitterionic hydrogels, thus broadening their applications in smart soft materials.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" 20","pages":" 4003-4009"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12038794/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143957068","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":"Ordered co-assembly based on chiral phenylalanine derivatives and achiral coumarin derivatives†","authors":"Yun-song Zhou, Yang Sheng, Peng Zhang, Rong Zhang, Mark Bradley and Yi-xin Sun","doi":"10.1039/D5SM00100E","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SM00100E","url":null,"abstract":"<p >The self-assembly of small molecules into supramolecular hydrogels is of great significance in mimicking biological systems. In this study, we investigated the formation and structure change of supramolecular hydrogels based on the self-assembly behavior of an achiral coumarin derivative (G1) and a chiral phenylalanine derivative (ALP). It was observed that G1 and ALP can self-assemble at various molar ratios, resulting in distinct nanostructured morphologies. Specifically, at a molar ratio of G1/ALP (4 : 1), the achiral G1 molecules initially bifurcate and diverge, ultimately forming a dendritic microstructure at the G1 termini. When the G1/ALP ratio was adjusted to 2 : 1, a chrysanthemum-like microstructure emerged. UV-light can destroy the self-assembled gel structure of different G1/ALP ratios, changing it from gel to sol. The emergence of these higher-order chiral structures during self-assembly was attributed to hydrogen bonding and π–π stacking interactions between the molecules. This research offers valuable insights into the understanding of biological self-assembly processes and the design of artificial biomedical materials.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" 18","pages":" 3613-3621"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143918836","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":"From regular solutions to microemulsions†‡","authors":"Shih-Yu Tseng, Reinhard Strey, Ulf Olsson and Thomas Sottmann","doi":"10.1039/D4SM01258E","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SM01258E","url":null,"abstract":"<p >We address the structure of homogeneous mixtures of equal volumes of water and oil rendered miscible by the addition of amphiphilic molecules. Specifically, we study the pathway from regular ternary solutions to structured microemulsions with increasing amphiphilic chain length, <em>i.e.</em>, increasing <em>i</em> and <em>j</em> for alkyl polyglycol ether surfactants (C<small>_<em>i</em></small>E<small>_<em>j</em></small>) from C<small>₃</small>E<small>₀</small> (<em>i.e.</em>, propanol) to C<small>₅</small>E<small>₂</small>, using contrast variation small angle neutron scattering (SANS). The bulk-contrast SANS pattern of the symmetric system water–cyclohexane–(2-propanol/1-propanol) with nearly horizontal tie-lines matches Ornstein–Zernike behavior with characteristic <em>q</em><small>⁻²</small> decay, implying critical composition fluctuations occurring predominantly in the water–oil ratio. Weak scattering signals were detected in film-contrast SANS possibly due to the existence of the nearby tricritical point (TCP). After passing the TCP, the increasing amphiphilic strength leads to the gradual build-up of well-defined amphiphilic interfaces stabilizing water- and oil-rich domains of colloidal dimensions, as evidenced by the well-known <em>q</em><small>⁻⁴</small> behavior observed in bulk-contrast SANS pattern at large <em>q</em>. The amphiphilicity factor <em>f</em><small>_a</small> ranging from +1.15 to −0.60 reveals the crossing of the disorder line, the Lifshitz line, and the wetting to non-wetting transition. Precursors of structuring in those mixtures with compositions, where the lamellar phase appears for even longer-chain amphiphiles, are also borne out by the experiments.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" 19","pages":" 3839-3849"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2025/sm/d4sm01258e?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143944133","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":"l-Methionine sulfoxide and l-alanine copolymers for ice control†","authors":"Huimin Han, Qingjing Niu, Kongying Zhu, Xiaoyan Yuan and Lixia Ren","doi":"10.1039/D5SM00203F","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D5SM00203F","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Amphiphilic copolymers are reported to show excellent ice control activity for their special interaction with ice and water. In this work, amphiphilic <small>L</small>-methionine sulfoxide and <small>L</small>-alanine copolymers (MSACPs) with different block ratios (PMet<small>^o</small><small>₄₈</small>-<em>b</em>-PAla<small>_<em>y</em></small>), different molecular weights and random (P(Met<small>^o</small><small>₄₈</small>-<em>co</em>-Ala<small>₂₀</small>)) structures are prepared, respectively, to study the structure and ice control activity relationship. The ice control activity is well studied using ice nucleation, dynamic ice shaping (DIS) and ice recrystallization inhibition (IRI). The MSACPs are self-assembled into micelles of 11 to 80 nm in aqueous solution, which promotes the heterogeneous ice nucleation. Among block copolymers with different block ratios (PMet<small>^o</small><small>₄₈</small>-<em>b</em>-PAla<small>_<em>y</em></small>) and molecular weights, PMet<small>^o</small><small>₄₈</small>-<em>b</em>-PAla<small>₂₀</small> with an appropriate block ratio and molecular weight shows the highest nucleation temperature (−18.2 °C), and excellent DIS and best IRI (the mean largest grain size is 34%) activities. And, for the block copolymers with a similar block ratio to that of PMet<small>^o</small><small>₄₈</small>-<em>b</em>-PAla<small>₂₀</small>, the DIS and IRI are closely related to the molecular weight as the ice control property is enhanced at high molecular weight. Compared with PMet<small>^o</small><small>₄₈</small>-<em>b</em>-PAla<small>₂₀</small>, the corresponding random copolymer, P(Met<small>^o</small><small>₄₈</small>-<em>co</em>-Ala<small>₂₀</small>), shows weaker ice control activity. Meanwhile, low-field nuclear magnetic resonance results show that the polymer–water interaction increases with hydrophobic block ratio, but has less effect on the molecular weight. The ice control activity is probably related to the balance between the polymer–water interaction and the polymer–ice interaction, and is optimized by both strong interactions.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" 21","pages":" 4211-4219"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143956267","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":"Inertia-driven propulsion of asymmetric spinner-dimers at moderate Reynolds numbers","authors":"Zaiyi Shen, Dongfang Fu and Juho S. Lintuvuori","doi":"10.1039/D5SM00108K","DOIUrl":"10.1039/D5SM00108K","url":null,"abstract":"<p >We investigate the translational motion of rotating colloidal systems at moderate Reynolds numbers (Re), focusing on particle dimers in snowman-like configurations in three scenarios: (i) two co-rotating spheres driven by an external field, (ii) two counter-rotating spheres driven by an internal torque as a swimmer, and (iii) a single rotating spinner with a passive sphere for cargo delivery, using hydrodynamic simulations. In all three cases, the particles are bound together hydrodynamically, and the purely rotational motion of the spinners produces a net propulsion of the dimers along the axis of rotation due to symmetry breaking. We demonstrate tunable dynamics, where the propulsion direction of the co-rotating dimer can be reversed by tuning the aspect ratio and Reynolds number, as well as cargo transport where a dimer consisting of a single spinner and a passive cargo particle can have a sustained locomotion due to broken head-to-tail symmetry of the overall flow fields. These findings highlight the critical role of inertia in creating locomotion from rotational motion and offer new avenues for controlling and optimizing translational motion in colloidal assemblies through rotational degrees of freedom.</p>","PeriodicalId":103,"journal":{"name":"Soft Matter","volume":" 20","pages":" 4021-4028"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2025/sm/d5sm00108k?page=search","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143957121","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}