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Probing the Polymer Anomalous Dynamics at Solid/Liquid Interfaces at the Single-Molecule Level
Publication date: Available online 6 February 2019Source: Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface ScienceAuthor(s): Dapeng WangAbstractA goal across multiple scientific fields (e.g. separations, polymer processing, and biomaterials) is to understand polymer dynamics at solid/liquid interfaces. In the last two decades, rapid developments in single-molecule techniques have revolutionized our ability to directly observe molecular behaviors with ultra-high spatial/temporal resolution and to decouple the elementary processes that were often veiled in ensemble experiments. This review provided an overview of principle and realiza...
Source: Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science - February 6, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Droplet manipulation with bioinspired liquid-infused surfaces: a review of recent progress and potential for integrated detection
Publication date: Available online 4 February 2019Source: Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface ScienceAuthor(s): Daniel P. Regan, Caitlin HowellAbstractPoint-of-need (PON) diagnostics offer promising methods to gather information relevant to health and safety on-site without the requirement for a fully-equipped laboratory. In this review, we discuss how liquid-infused surfaces offer a promising platform to expand the capabilities of PON devices in the areas of biological sample preparation and system integration, providing new methods of controlling the movement of droplets and facilitating detection of biological and ch...
Source: Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science - February 5, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Ionic liquid-solid interface and applications in lubrication and energy storage
Publication date: Available online 5 February 2019Source: Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface ScienceAuthor(s): Milad RadiomAbstractRoom-temperature ionic liquids (ILs) exhibit many attractive properties in proximity to solid surfaces. Primarily, they form well-defined interfacial layers that are tunable – electrically and thermally - as well as being stable - mechanically, electrically and thermally - over a wide range. Recent investigations have aimed at understanding the molecular structuring of ILs at their interface with solids and in confinement, while in tandem, ILs are used as next generation lubricants and en...
Source: Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science - February 5, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

3D-printed glass microfluidics for fluid dynamics and rheology
Publication date: October 2019Source: Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science, Volume 43Author(s): Noa Burshtein, San To Chan, Kazumi Toda-Peters, Amy Q. Shen, Simon J. HawardAbstractMicrofluidics provides a versatile platform for handling small volumes of fluids at small length scales. From a fluid dynamics perspective, microfluidics gives access to a regime of very high deformation rates γ˙ at moderate to negligible Reynolds numbers Re. For viscoelastic fluid flows, the resulting high Weissenberg numbers Wi=τγ˙, where τ is the fluid characteristic time, means the flow occurs at high elasticity number El=Wi/R...
Source: Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science - February 5, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Graphene Oxide: Surfactant or Particle?
Publication date: Available online 30 January 2019Source: Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface ScienceAuthor(s): Thomas M. McCoy, Geosmin Turpin, Boon Mian Teo, Rico F. TaborAbstractGraphene oxide is a two-dimensional carbon nanomaterial that has risen to prominence over the last decade as graphenes water-dispersible counterpart. This key feature offers tremendous potential in the formation of waterborne hybrid materials, coatings, membranes and adsorbents that make use of its diverse surface chemistry and extraordinary surface area. However, the fundamental colloidal properties of graphene oxide remain incompletely unde...
Source: Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science - January 30, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Light-Induced Shape Morphing of Thin Films
Publication date: Available online 29 January 2019Source: Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface ScienceAuthor(s): Alexa S. Kuenstler, Ryan C. HaywardAbstractShape transformation of thin two-dimensional sheets into three-dimensional structures using light is of great interest for remotely-controlled fabrication, surface modulation, and actuation. Over the last few decades, significant efforts have been made to develop materials systems incorporating photochemical or photothermal elements to drive deformation in response to illumination. However, the full extent of the interplay between chemistry, optics, and mechanics in t...
Source: Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science - January 29, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Phase Separation: Bridging Polymer Physics and Biology
Publication date: Available online 22 January 2019Source: Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface ScienceAuthor(s): Sarah L. PerryAbstractSignificant parallels exist between the phase separation behavior of polymers in solution and the types of biomolecular condensates, or ‘membraneless organelles,’ that are of increasing interest in living systems. Liquid-liquid phase separation allows for compartmentalization and the sequestration of materials, and can be harnessed as a sensitive strategy for responding to small changes in the environment. Here, I review many of the parallels and synergies between ongoing efforts to s...
Source: Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science - January 23, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Lubrication of soft oral surfaces
Publication date: Available online 22 January 2019Source: Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface ScienceAuthor(s): Anwesha Sarkar, Efren Andablo-Reyes, Michael Bryant, Duncan Dowson, Anne NevilleAbstractOral lubrication deals with one of the most intricate examples of biotribology, where surfaces under sliding conditions span from the hardest enamel to soft oral tissues in human physiology. Complexity further arises with surfaces being covered by an endogenous biolubricant saliva before exogenous food particles can wet, stick or slip at the surfaces. In this review, we present a description of soft oral surfaces, comparing...
Source: Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science - January 22, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Interactions between model inclusions on closed lipid bilayer membranes
Publication date: Available online 19 January 2019Source: Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface ScienceAuthor(s): Timon Idema, Daniela J. KraftAbstractProtein inclusions in the membranes of living cells interact via the deformations they impose on that membrane. Such membrane-mediated interactions lead to sorting and self-assembly of the inclusions, as well as to membrane remodelling, crucial for many biological processes. For the past decades, theory, numerical calculations and experiments have been employing simplified models for proteins to gain quantitative insights into their behaviour. Despite challenges arising fro...
Source: Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science - January 20, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Recent Progress of Polymeric Nanogels as Nucleic Acid Delivery Systems
Publication date: Available online 16 January 2019Source: Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface ScienceAuthor(s): Rima Kandil, Olivia M. MerkelAbstractWith its nearly unrestricted possibilities, gene therapy attracts more and more significance in modern-day research. The only issue still seeming to hold back its clinical success is the actual effective delivery of genetic material. Nucleic acids are in general challenging to administer to their intracellular targets due to their unfavorable pharmaceutical characteristics. Polymeric nanogels present a promising delivery platform for oligonucleotide-based therapies, as the ...
Source: Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science - January 17, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Probing in-vitro digestion at oil-water interfaces
Publication date: Available online 16 January 2019Source: Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface ScienceAuthor(s): Julia Maldonado-ValderramaAbstractInterfacial layers have been widely applied to study the formation and stability of emulsion based systems. However, the application of isolated interfaces to address digestibility of emulsions is often limited due to the complexity of experimental methods and results. This review summarizes the latest developments in analytical methods and literature data on effects of digestion on interfacial layers. Particular emphasis is given to understand the changes on interfacial magni...
Source: Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science - January 17, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Lung surfactant models and particles at fluid interfaces: Making preliminary toxicity assessments of inhaled particles
Publication date: Available online 16 January 2019Source: Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface ScienceAuthor(s): Eduardo Guzmán, Eva SantiniAbstractLung surfactant is a complex mixture of lipids and proteins which plays a major role in the respiratory cycle. This makes necessary to understand the effects of different external factors or agents, e.g. inhaled particles, as potential source of alteration of the normal physiological response of lung surfactant. However, in most cases in vivo studies are difficult to perform and preliminary studies based in model systems are required. Films of lipids or mixtures of lipids an...
Source: Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science - January 17, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Lattice Self-Assembly of Cyclodextrin Complexes and Beyond
Publication date: Available online 16 January 2019Source: Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface ScienceAuthor(s): Chunxian Wu, Qingqiao Xie, Weiwei Xu, Mei Tu, Lingxiang JiangAbstractWhile lipids form soft, fluidic membranes (soft assembly), proteins can readily assemble into rigid, crystalline structures such as viral capsids and bacterial compartments (lattice assembly). The key difference has to do with the driving forces, where the former is driven by the weak, directionless hydrophobic effect and the latter by a combination of relatively strong, directional intermolecular interactions. In synthetic systems, the lipid...
Source: Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science - January 16, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Water oxidation with inhomogeneous metal-silicon interfaces
Publication date: Available online 10 January 2019Source: Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface ScienceAuthor(s): Gabriel LogetAbstractSi is a prime candidate for manufacturing water-splitting photoelectrochemical cells, however, the stability of this material remains a serious bottleneck. This is particularly true for the photoanode, subject to severe deactivation mechanisms. So far, thin film homogeneity has been the paradigm in the quest for stable and efficient Si-based photoanodes, which involved the use of vapor deposition methods to produce conformal thin films ensuring Si protection and efficient catalysis during ...
Source: Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science - January 11, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research

Multiscale modeling of proteins interaction with functionalized nanoparticles
Publication date: June 2019Source: Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science, Volume 41Author(s): Giorgia Brancolini, Valentina TozziniAbstractUnderstanding protein interactions with inorganic nanoparticle is central to the rational design of new tools in biomaterial sciences, nanobiotechnology, and nanomedicine. Theoretical modeling and simulations provide complementary approaches for experimental studies and are applied for exploring protein–particle surface-binding mechanisms, the determinants of binding specificity toward different surfaces, and the thermodynamics and kinetics of adsorption. The use of multisc...
Source: Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science - January 5, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research