the microphase separation of hydrated perfluorinated sulfonic acid membrane nafion was investigated using dissipative particle dynamics (dpd). the nafion as a polymer was modelled by connecting coarse grained beads which corresponds to the hydrophobic backbone of polytetrafluoroethylene and perfluorinated side chains terminated by hydrophilic end particles of sulfonic acid groups [1, 2]. each f...

Organic/inorganic nanohybrid materials have attracted particular scientific and technological interest because they combine the properties of the organic and the inorganic component. Inorganic nanoparticles exhibit interesting electrical, optical, magnetic and/or catalytic properties, which are related with their nano-scale dimensions. However, their high surface-to-volume ratio often induces a...

The influence of an external flow on the relaxation dynamics of a single polymer is investigated theoretically and numerically. We show that a pronounced dynamical slowdown occurs in the vicinity of the coil-stretch transition, especially when the dependence on polymer conformation of the drag is accounted for. For the elongational flow, relaxation times are exceedingly larger than the Zimm rel...

We investigate the effect of various spherical nanoparticles on chain dimensions in polymer melts for high nanoparticle loading which is larger than the percolation threshold, using molecular dynamics simulations. We show that polymer chains are unperturbed by the presence of repulsive nanoparticles. In contrast polymer chains can be perturbed by the presence of attractive nanoparticles when th...

Measurements are presented of how surface diffusion of flexible polymers at the solid-liquid interface is controlled by surface coverage. Surface coverage is varied over the full range from dilute to saturated surface coverage. The method of measurement is fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS), and the systems are poly(ethylene oxide) (PEG) and dextran adsorbed onto methyl-terminated self...

A theory describing layers of polymer chains grafted to a flat surface (polymer 'brush') is developed. We consider a brush of chains with arbitrary extensibility and, within the framework of molecular field theory, we suggest a general scheme for calculating the selfconsistent pseudo-potential, which determines the structure of the brush. This potential appears to be defined only by the mechani...

As a platform for investigating the individual effects of substrate stiffness, permeability, and ligand density on cellular behavior, we developed a set of hydrogels with stiffness tuned by polymer backbone rigidity, independent of cross-link density and concentration. Previous studies report that poly(propargyl-L-glutamate) (PPLG), synthesized by ring-opening polymerization of the N-carboxy an...