7 papers
Using fast-reactive crosslinkers to modulate the internal structure of thermoresponsive microgels
Ballin Elisa, Brasili Francesco, Sztucki Michael +3
The internal architecture of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) microgels, which switches from fuzzy-sphere to star-like when the standard N,N'-methylenebis(acrylamide) (BIS) cro…
A single-chain nanoparticle-based mean-field theory for associative polymers
Marco Cappa, Stefano Chiani, Francesco Sciortino +1
Associative polymers are a class of polymers containing attractive stickers that can reversibly bind to each other. Their fully-bonded state gives rise, in dilute conditions, to a…
Entropy-driven phase behaviour of all-DNA associative polymers
Francesco Tosti Guerra, Federico Marini, Francesco Sciortino +1
Associative polymers (APs) with reversible, specific interactions between ``sticker'' sites exhibit a phase behavior that depends on a delicate balance between distinct contributio…
A phase-field model for solutions of DNA-made particles
Marco Cappa, Francesco Sciortino, Lorenzo Rovigatti
We present a phase-field model based on the Cahn-Hilliard equation to investigate the properties of phase separation in DNA nanostar systems. Leveraging a realistic free-energy fun…
A Falsifiability Test for Classical Nucleation Theory
Camilla Beneduce, Diogo E. P. Pinto, Lorenzo Rovigatti +4
Classical nucleation theory (CNT) is built upon the capillarity approximation, i.e., the assumption that the nucleation properties can be inferred from the bulk properties of the m…
Solid-liquid interfacial free energy from computer simulations: Challenges and recent advances
Nicodemo Di Pasquale, Jesus Algaba, Pablo Montero de Hijes +12
The theory of interfacial properties in liquid-liquid or liquid-vapour systems is nearly 200 years old. The advent of computational tools has greatly advanced the field, mainly thr…