Papers

At short times, interfacial tension depends on experimental geometry because surfactant transport to the interface depends on the mass-transfer conditions.A predictive description therefore requires more than a dynamic tension curve or a fitted adsorption constant: interfacial thermodynamics, diffusion, and adsorption kinetics must be identified separately. Here, we combine equilibrium and diffusion measurements with a microfluidic EDGE tensiometer that provides a nearly stationary interface and controlled micrometer-scale transport. Equilibrium properties and diffusion are determined independently, leaving adsorption kinetics as the key unknown. Dynamic tension is then calculated using a nonequilibrium thermodynamic description, without assuming instantaneous equilibrium between the adsorbed layer and the subsurface solution. For the nonionic surfactant C$_{10}$E$_{8}$, equilibrium thermodynamics and transport are independently constrained, and a single intrinsic adsorption rate constant describes several concentrations. We extend the framework to SDS by including electrostatic interactions and subsurface-concentration dynamics, capturing transient depletion and replenishment. Once thermodynamic, transport, and kinetic parameters are identified, the model predicts dynamic interfacial tension beyond the geometry and conditions used to determine them. The microfluidic EDGE tensiometer thus provides both a reliable short-time tensiometry method and a quantitative framework for identifying the physical mechanisms governing surfactant mass transfer at interfaces.

The non-linear mechanics of amorphous polymers near the glass transition reveals a stress-induced acceleration of stress relaxation of nanometric sub-units. Recent theoretical work predicts that the local acceleration within these nano-domains should scale as the exponential of the squared local stress, a behavior now supported by experiments. However, this local dynamics has some complex consequences on the macroscopic mechanical response, as dynamical heterogeneities generate complex stress and strain fields in polymers close to the glass transition. In this study we consider the non-linear creep of an amorphous polymer near its glass transition and evaluate the relation between local and global acceleration and the emerging load-carrying structure, by comparing experimental data with predictions of three models of increasing complexity: a two-states (2S) model, a self-consistent (SC) model and a finite-element (FEM) model. The experimentally observed trend of accelerated creep under increasing applied stress is reproduced by the SC and FEM models, while the 2S model overestimates stress localization. The macroscopic, homogenized acceleration is predicted to be close to the microscopic one, albeit with an apparent yield stress that depends on compliance. The FEM model evidences the development of a load carrying sub-structure that occupies a small fraction of the total material volume driven by the interaction of sub-domains. This work shows that complexity and heterogeneity emerge due to non-linear interactions and that their adequate representation is essential for predicting the macroscopic mechanical response of amorphous polymers near their glass transition.

Equilibrium statistical mechanics owes much of its analytical tractability to symmetry: detailed balance, gradient flows, and the resulting vanishing of steady-state entropy production follow directly from the structure of the underlying dynamics, not from any smallness of the driving. Exact solutions of this kind are rare away from equilibrium. Here we identify a class of far-from-equilibrium active colloidal chains – coupled via roto-translational, autophoretic (monopolar) interactions – that admit an exact quasi equilibrium description: at fixed chain geometry, the orientational equations of motion for every monomer are derivable from a scalar potential, detailed balance holds exactly in the orientational sector, while the positional sector breaks the equilibrium structure. The associated steady-state entropy production rate (EPR) vanishes identically for this sector, even though the full system is manifestly driven and dissipative. We solve this reduced dynamics exactly for dimers and semi-analytically for general $N$-mers, obtain the orientational fluctuations and the full-system EPR in closed form, and show that all dissipation is carried by the translational (center-of-mass) sector. We further examine the effect of dipolar chemical emission – expected from asymmetric micelle deposition at the monomer scale – and find that the equilibrium structure holds exactly for dimers, whereas for longer chains no such description is possible. A purely dipolar coupling instead producesa genuinely non-equilibrium state with no static attractor, sustaining non-monotonic drift with no fixed limit, and an EPR that itself never reaches steady state. Monopolar coupling remains necessary and sufficient for the polarized state; dipolar coupling alone breaks the quasi-equilibrium structure without replacing it with a new static one.

Polymer-functionalised mesopores are an emerging technology for colloid separation, sensing and delivery. Their potential is strikingly illustrated in living cells, where nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) control biocolloid transport between the nucleus and the cytosol. Even colloids much smaller than the biopolymer-filled NPC channel are effectively blocked, but some larger colloids with distinct surface features rapidly permeate. Simplistically, one may expect any polymer filling to obstruct and slow down colloid transport. We demonstrate how a polymer filling that attracts colloids and extends beyond the mesopore, thus maximizing colloid capture, can instead increase permeation compared to a bare pore. We also define how polymer-filled mesopores can effectively gate colloids according to their size and surface features. Our findings provide a basic physical explanation for the exquisite permselectivity of NPCs, and a rational design strategy for novel mesopore-based separation, sensing, catalysis and drug delivery devices with enhanced performance features.

We numerically investigate the dynamics of a deformable closed ring filled with active particles. The ring is modeled as a flexible boundary made up of passive beads interacting with a harmonic spring force. The interior of the ring is filled with active Brownian particles (ABPs), and their activity is controlled through the rotational diffusion coefficient. We explore how, by systematically varying the activity of ABPs, packing fraction, and size of the ring, we can control the shape deformation and dynamics of the ring. At low packing fractions, low rotational diffusion coefficients, and smaller ring sizes, the ring exhibits highly irregular and strongly deformed shapes due to the uneven spatial arrangement of active particles along the boundary. Increasing the packing fraction, rotational diffusion coefficient, or ring size promotes a more even distribution of active particles within the ring, thereby suppressing shape deformations and fluctuations, driving the ring toward a more circular shape. We further analyze the mean-squared displacement (MSD) of the ring's center of mass and observe a crossover from ballistic to diffusive dynamics, which can be tuned by varying the system parameters. Our results demonstrate that, despite its internal complexity and deformability, the ring exhibits emergent behavior analogous to that of a single effective active particle. This study provides insight into the collective effects of confined active matter and the resulting macroscopic dynamics of deformable systems.

Monodisperse granular particles can form crystals whose yielding behavior is strongly affected by dislocations and differs markedly from that of conventional amorphous granular materials. Yet the rate dependence of their post-yield steady rheology remains unclear. We use the discrete element method to study steady shear in a granular crystal containing a single dislocation. We find that the steady shear-to-normal stress ratio $\mu_b$ is organized by the scaled dislocation velocity $v_d/v_s$, rather than by the conventional inertial number $I$. Here, $v_d$ is related to the imposed shear rate through Orowan kinematics, and $v_s$ is a characteristic Hertzian elastic-wave speed. At low $v_d/v_s$, the stress ratio approaches a small plateau associated with the elastic lattice barrier and interparticle friction. At intermediate values of $v_d/v_s$, contact damping strongly affects the approximately linear increase of the stress ratio above the plateau. As $v_d/v_s$ approaches unity, the stress develops a stronger nonlinear velocity dependence. At still higher velocities, the coordination deficit rises sharply, marking the breakdown of crystalline order and the end of the single-dislocation description. These results identify the scaled dislocation velocity as the relevant rate variable for the steady rheology of dislocation-mediated granular flow and clarify the distinct roles of interparticle friction and contact damping in the low- and intermediate-velocity regimes, respectively.

The inflation of a pre-existing, fluid-filled cavity is a timeless topic in the finite-deformation analysis of soft materials. However, classical solutions for cavity inflation rely on radially symmetric material properties, leaving unresolved the effects of non-radial stiffness heterogeneity that are commonly present in biological tissues and engineered soft materials. In this work, we investigate the quasi-static inflation of a pressurized cavity in a hyperelastic solid with shear modulus varying monotonically along a reference Cartesian direction. Finite-element simulations reveal that, beyond an initial small-inflation regime, the most pronounced symmetry-breaking response is the migration of the cavity toward the more compliant end of the material, while nonspherical distortion remains comparatively weak. To analytically quantify this migration-dominated response, we develop a Rayleigh–Ritz reduced-order framework to determine the strain-energy-minimizing migration amplitude for prescribed gradation parameters and inflation level. Without using fitted parameters, the Rayleigh–Ritz framework recovers key features of the cavity migration that are intimately linked to the mechanical gradation parameters. The identification of centroid migration as a salient geometric signal, together with the reduced-order prediction of its evolution, suggests a roadmap for inverse characterization of graded materials through cavity-inflation experiments.

Scale-free correlations are believed to be generic in out of equilibrium systems but their explicit derivations are rare and often involve approximations. Here we analyze a system of infinitely persistent active Brownian particles in the low density and small-swim-velocity limit. We show that both the density and swim velocity correlations decay algebraically as r^{-(d+1)} (with logarithmic corrections in d=2). In reciprocal space these correlations manifest themselves as cusps at k=0. The analytical predictions are confirmed by numerical simulations. The results were obtained through interaction with Claude (Opus 4.8 and 5, and Fable 5) and verified by the author.

Spherical surfaces conceal the one-body signature of particle organization: area-uniform, conductor, and curvature-weighted measures coincide there, so the ordering mechanism leaves no trace in the density. Hard spheres and Coulomb charges confined to the sphere thus produce identical mean densities, and distinctions between their particle arrangements appear only in many-body correlations. Aspherical deformation lifts this degeneracy, and we show that on an ellipsoid, different ordering mechanisms separate by virtue of a single exponent $p$ of the distance from the shell center to its tangent plane. To leading order in deformation, the characteristic exponent $p$ can be obtained both from the quadrupole of the spherical structure factor and from the radius of gyration. Two interaction families demonstrate how this can be realized in practice: the Riesz $s$-energy, whose limiting measure is determined by the power $s$ and exhibits a transition at $s=d=2$, and the screened Coulomb potential, whose measure and thus the characteristic exponent are tuned continuously by the salt concentration. The value of the characteristic exponent $p$ positions the arrangement of particles between the conductor and packing limits, and its response to a control parameter such as salt concentration can be used experimentally to identify the interaction family.

Boundary lubrication is governed by molecular processes at the sliding interface that are inaccessible to classical continuum descriptions. While molecular dynamics (MD) simulations can resolve these processes in atomistic detail, incorporating their output into engineering-scale models through semi-empirical constitutive laws becomes increasingly difficult as confinement approaches the molecular scale. Here, we apply a nonparametric multiscale framework based on Gaussian process (GP) regression to model boundary lubrication of hexadecane confined between gold surfaces under pressures up to 1 GPa and gap heights down to 1.4 nm. The GP surrogates are trained on nonequilibrium MD simulations of the confined fluid and directly provide stress predictions to a continuum thin-film solver, circumventing the need for fixed-form constitutive laws. The framework naturally captures molecular phenomena such as density layering, viscosity changes, and the strongly nonlinear wall slip that dominates the frictional response at high pressures and small gap heights. Our results reproduce the atomistic benchmark data of Codrignani et al., demonstrating that nonparametric surrogate models offer a flexible and physically transparent route toward predictive continuum modeling of boundary lubrication.

Molecular dynamics simulations of electrolyte ions with charge shifted by the distance $d$ from the ion geometrical center have shown that mechanical equilibrium in the ion's body frame is not established beyond a critical shift distance $d^*$. A sharp crossover to a non-zero body-frame force occurs due to frustration of water molecules failing to compensate the electrostatic pull with a local density augmentation. A solution ion with asymmetric charge experiences a net body-frame force similar to self-propelled motion of active-matter Brownian particles. Thermal equilibrium and zero laboratory-frame force are still maintained, but the diffusion constant drops significantly ($\sim 400$ times) when the charge displacement crosses the threshold value $d^*$. Alternative routes to the diffusion constant become inequivalent and the diffusion constant from the mean-squared displacement is much higher than those from velocity and force correlation functions.

Effective-medium theory treats material porosity as passive dilution. Using ab initio density functional theory and high-resolution synchrotron terahertz (THz) spectroscopy on isochemical zeolitic-imidazolate frameworks, we show that while the electronic permittivity obeys Clausius-Mossotti density scaling, the phonon contribution violates the conventional density scaling rules. Identical Born charges rule out the role of local chemistry. Instead, the framework connectivity localizes the THz response, where the coherency of phonon eigenvectors determines the mode-effective charges. Long-range architecture of framework topology ubiquitous in metal-organic frameworks is therefore a dielectric degree of freedom beyond the density scaling of conventional solids.

Molecular aggregates are at the basis of a broad range of functional systems, including photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes, organic photovoltaics, optoelectronic devices, and molecular sensors. Their structural organization, however, is often difficult to resolve because intrinsic heterogeneity. In this context, circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy is particularly powerful because of its sensitivity to the three-dimensional organization of molecular building blocks. Extending CD measurements from ensembles to individual objects therefore offers a unique approach to probing supramolecular architecture in heterogeneous, non-crystallizable systems. However, without spatial and orientational averaging, measurements are highly sensitive to imbalances between left- and right-circularly polarized excitation, deviations from ideal circular polarization, and polarization imperfections coupled to linear dichroism, which creates spurious CD signals. Here, we present a systematic theoretical and experimental framework for understanding, quantifying, and controlling artifacts in single-object CD spectroscopy. We develop a mathematical description of the principal artifact mechanisms, identify their origins in practical implementations, including Pockels-cell-based polarization modulation, and establish strategies for their minimization. We validate this framework using an experimental implementation capable of acquiring CD spectra from individual molecular aggregates over 690-785 nm. Our results demonstrate that reliable single-object CD measurements are achievable when polarization-related artifacts are rigorously characterized and controlled. This Tutorial Review provides a unified theoretical framework and practical guide for single-object CD spectroscopy and its application to single-particle chirality, supramolecular photonics, and biophotonics.

Shear-induced contact area reduction is widely observed in soft contacts, yet recent torsional experiments have revealed a more complex non-monotonic evolution in which the contact area first increases and then decreases with twist angle. The mechanism responsible for this initial area increase and the role of large deformation in the overall area evolution remain unclear. In this study, we experimentally investigate the torsional contact response of soft Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) spheres by combining forward-backward twist tests with a systematic variation of the curing-agent-to-base ratio to tune material softness and deformation level. The loading-unloading tests show that the torsional interface is strongly irreversible: during unloading, the contact area follows a decrease-increase-decrease path rather than retracing the loading branch, and repeatable petal-like edges appear, indicating a wrinkle-induced surface instability. By decreasing the mixing ratio, we find that larger deformation strengthens the area-reduction contribution and eventually suppresses the initial area increase, leading to a monotonic area decrease during loading for sufficiently soft PDMS. Softer PDMS also exhibits lower shear strength, weaker torque oscillations, and improved repeatability. The results provide experimental evidence that large deformation can drive shear-induced contact area reduction, while the origin of the initial area increase remains unresolved. These findings narrow the possible mechanisms (e.g., triboelectrification) responsible for the initial area increase and provide a stringent benchmark for frictional contact models of soft interfaces.

In swollen elastomers, elasticity can arrest macroscopic demixing between the polymer network and the solvent, producing stable domains of finite size. While previous theories have focused on isotropically swollen elastomers, anisotropy strongly influences the phase behavior of many related systems, such as gels and crosslinked polymer blends. Building on the approach developed in Part I of this two-part paper, we investigate the effects of two experimentally induced sources of anisotropy: uniaxial swelling and stiffness gradients. We show that uniaxial swelling can lead to the formation of stable lamellar microphases and modify phase behavior, while stiffness gradients can cause spatial variations in the characteristic microphase size.

Impact craters relax over long timescales, and this process is commonly described by a diffusion model. The diffusion coefficient determines the relaxation rate, and it has been estimated from observed crater shapes. This coefficient, however, represents the combined effect of several physical mechanisms. Its physical basis has not been revealed yet. In this study, we isolate the contribution of seismic vibration in a controlled experiment. Using a quasi-two-dimensional setup, we first confirm that a linear diffusion equation reproduces the crater relaxation. We then measure the diffusion coefficient and obtain the scaling form through systematic experiments. We find that the diffusion coefficient is proportional to the crater diameter. This dependence is not expected for simple diffusion. We interpret this dependence as arising because the thickness of the vibro-fluidized granular layer scales with the crater depth. This scaling relation is the main result of this study. We then apply it to the Moon with a parameterized model of impact-driven seismic spreading in the regolith layer. Integrating over the impact flux yields a macroscopic coefficient nearly proportional to crater diameter for shallow-layer-like spreading. Its magnitude depends on uncertain model parameters but is consistent with observations for plausible values. These results indicate that vibration is a physically plausible contributor to crater relaxation on the Moon.

In a previous work [Masubuchi et al., Compos. Sci. Technol. 134, 43 (2016)], a fiber-length distribution function was proposed as the hypoexponential, or Erlang-type, convolution of two exponential waiting lengths, motivated by two independent Poisson processes for breakage and for blocking of adjacent breaks. The present paper further evaluates this hypoexponential form by introducing a finite initial length L_{0}, and by analyzing the mechanistic basis of the buckling-induced fiber breakage process. The obtained finite-L_{0} closed-form solution was compared to a glass fiber dataset to retroactively justify the infinite-length idealization in the earlier work for such systems while providing the complete form for processes in which fragments remain comparable to L_{0}. Concerning the mechanics of fiber fragmentation, a Mellin transform analysis of the fragmentation equation showed that scale-invariant cascades yield power laws and therefore cannot generate characteristic lengths; those lengths must instead arise from scale-breaking ingredients, particularly the cutoff region and the arrested processing history. Monte Carlo simulations of a phenomenological finite-opportunity cascade showed that the hypoexponential form does not reproduce the peak of the generated distribution but captures its exponential-like tail, implying that it serves as a useful two-parameter fitting model, although not an exact generative distribution.

Origami-inspired tubular structures provide a versatile platform for shape morphing, with multistability achieved predominantly through crease-network geometry. Expanding the range of morphing behaviors can therefore require increasingly intricate crease patterns that become more difficult to model and fabricate, ultimately constraining the realizable morphing landscape. Here, we expand the design space of origami-inspired structures beyond geometry by introducing localized instabilities within the crease network, thereby creating compliant multistable structures whose local fold architectures govern global deformation and stability through both constitutive mechanics and geometric constraints. To relate local fold architectures to global multistability, we develop and experimentally validate a modeling framework in which compliant folds are represented as continuous fields that capture spatially varying bistable mechanics. Force- and displacement-controlled design maps demonstrate that global deformation and stability can be programmed through the fold architecture's local parameters. Redistributing bistability within a fixed crease-network topology shifts the global response between compliant, spatially distributed deformation in semi-bistable architectures and discrete transitions within a hierarchically organized space of stable configurations in fully bistable architectures. These results establish a local-to-global design principle for programming both the stable configurations of a structure and the transition pathways connecting them, expanding the design space for multistable metamaterials, adaptive morphing structures, and soft robotic systems.

Non-local constitutive theories have received increasing attention in continuum descriptions of granular flows. However, these models have not been systematically compared for silo discharge within a unified numerical framework. We address this gap with two-dimensional finite-volume method (FVM) simulations of silo discharge using the Basilisk platform. We first validate our FVM implementation of the dynamic non-local granular fluidity (NGF) model against the material point method results of Dunatunga & Kamrin (J. Fluid Mech., 2022, 940, A14), obtaining quantitative agreement. Second, we relate the discharge rate $Q$ to the outlet-to-particle size ratio $D/d$ and the non-local amplitude $A$. From the simulated $Q$, we then evaluate the clogging probability $J(D/d, A)$ within the probabilistic framework of Janda et al. (Europhys. Lett. 84 (4), 44002). The predicted $J$ decays exponentially with $D/d$, consistent with the experimental trend of Janda et al. (Europhys. Lett. 84 (4), 44002). Rather than directly predicting flow arrest, our approach captures the continuous probabilistic transition. Finally, within the same numerical framework and using identical values of $A$, we compare several non-local constitutive models, including several linearised variants that we derive. Almost all models predict a reduction in the discharge rate with increasing $A$, yet significant quantitative differences are observed among the models. The results are further classified into groups according to their predicted flow behaviour, revealing close correspondences among certain formulations. Notably, using the non-local amplitudes reported in the literature [Bouzid et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 238301), Henann & Kamrin (Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110(17))] yields near-zero discharge rates. Ill-posed issues are discussed. The implementation of all models is open-sourced and computationally efficient.

Mechanochemical milling is regarded as a scalable, solvent-free method that makes halide perovskites that solution processing cannot. Its deeper promise, though, is that mechanical force could become a new axis of synthetic control to turn milling from an empirical method into a predictive science. Halide perovskites are the ideal platform to establish this: their soft lattices and low formation energies make them intrinsically responsive to mechanical activation. Realising this requires settling what milling actually makes, and how: can a milled phase genuinely be trapped outside equilibrium, or is it just a convenient way to the equilibrium phase, and by what atomistic pathway does it work? These questions are mostly answered by assumption, while the in-situ and computational tools that resolved them for other material classes already exist. Closing this gap will unlock two design capabilities: mechanical energy used as a synthetic variable to tune phase selection, and metastability made programmable, producing trapped phases, specific intermediates, and compositions that have no possible solution route. Finally, two tests decide whether that control reaches practice: the state engineered during milling must survive into a working device, and the method must prove genuinely greener across the full device life cycle, rather than just solvent-free.

Large natural earthquakes are typically mediated by frictional pulse-like rupture, which features a finite slipping zone. Recently, a comprehensive two-dimensional theory of frictional slip pulses has been developed. It predicts that pulses are categorically unstable rupture modes, whose evolution is intrinsically slow. Unsteady pulses satisfy an equation of motion expressed in terms of discrete observables, which is inherently related to their steady-state counterparts. The theory also predicts a transition from decaying to slowly growing pulses. Here, we perform extensive lab earthquake experiments to test the theory. The experiments confirm the theoretical predictions for pulse-like lab earthquakes over a range of prestress levels, rupture nucleation conditions and small-scale fault roughness amplitudes. Specifically, the predicted time-dependent dynamics are tested in a plane defined by the evolving pulse size and peak slip rate, along with measurements of the dimensionless growth rate of pulses, demonstrating their intrinsically slow unsteady nature. The predicted transition between decaying and growing pulses is also experimentally demonstrated. These results constitute major progress in understanding a dominant earthquake rupture mode.

While band topology is usually associated with the deterministic dynamics of a system, we show that it can instead reside in its fluctuations. Using a reciprocal lattice driven by nonequilibrium chiral active noise, we find that the displacement spectrum—which quantifies displacement fluctuations—admits bands with nonzero Chern numbers despite a Chern-trivial deterministic mechanics. A two-band valley theory captures the emergence of this topology through a Dirac mass inversion, a Haldane-type mechanism, or a quadratic band touching, depending on the relevant transition. Through the bulk–boundary correspondence, we find boundary-localized fluctuation modes that are distinct from the usual propagating mechanical edge states.

Hindered settling of non spherical particles remains significantly less understood than spherical particles due to the computational challenges in resolving the complex contact mechanics and hydrodynamic interactions. In this paper, we present a scaleable fluid structure interaction (FSI) framework coupling the open-source LBM software in OpenLB with the Discrete Element Method (DEM) implemented in LAMMPS to simulate arbitrary shaped rigid bodies in a fluid. Particle contacts are captured using a multi-sphere "clump" representation in DEM, while particle geometries are resolved on the fluid grid via voxelization. We validate our model against single and multi-particle benchmarks, and proceed to study the hindered setttling of cubes in systems containing upto 100,000 cubes. Our simulations show distinct differences between the settling of cubes and sphere, as cubes form pronounced coordination shells without face-parallel contact, in contrast to the contact-dominated clustering observed in spheres. Our results find that correlation length in velocity fluctuations scale with system size even for the largest system studied. These findings highlight the role of particle morphology in suspension dynamics and demonstrate a robust framework for simulating large-scale geotechnical and particulate flows.

We investigate the statistics of the time-integrated current in an infinite one-dimensional gas of independent active Ornstein–Uhlenbeck particles, as a model system for studying an active generalisation of the corresponding passive (diffusive) phenomenology. Unlike the latter, where current fluctuations exhibit universal sub-diffusive scaling, active systems display diffusive, super-diffusive, and sub-diffusive regimes over different time scales. We fully characterise the distribution of current in terms of large-deviation asymptotics, showing that all of these scaling regimes are described by a single scaled cumulant generating function. Moreover, the statistics retain a dependence on the initial condition even at large times, revealing a persistent memory of the initial state. We further obtain the joint large-deviation statistics of currents measured at two distinct times, characterising temporal correlations. Our analytical predictions are verified using rare-event importance sampling, which resolves probabilities as small as $10^{-1000}$.

Enzymatic recycling of plastics is limited by the presence of semi-crystalline spherulites that are recalcitrant to enzymatic depolymerization. Depending on the quality of the waste stream and its treatment history, a large volume fraction of the material actually remains in form of connected clusters of such spherulites. We build on a recently published numeric method to predict the number, the connectivity, and the morphology of these clusters as an outcome of enzymatic degradation. When applied to PET waste, our method predicts that the resulting aggregates are loosely connected, "fluffy" structures with a high surface-to-volume ratio, accompanied by smaller clusters following a continuous size distribution. By providing a quantitative framework for understanding the microparticle production during the depolymerization, these findings should assist choosing a suitable downstream treatment, such as filtering or flocculation. This work could thus help to advance the enzymatic depolymerization technologies.

Liquid crystal-based biosensors exploit the sensitivity of interfacial anchoring to molecular adsorption. Cholesteric liquid crystals are especially useful because their helical structure supports multiple optically distinct textures that evolve with anchoring strength. Here, we compare saturated 1,2-dilauroyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DLPC) and unsaturated 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC) monolayers to determine how lipid acyl chain structure governs interfacial organization and director alignment. Mapping stripe spacing across lipid concentration, mixing ratio, cholesteric pitch, and confinement shows that the transition from fingerprint textures toward homeotropic alignment depends on both lipid structure and collective interfacial organization. DLPC produces comparatively regular textures and more readily promotes helix unwinding at high coverage, consistent with more spatially uniform collective anchoring. DOPC-containing interfaces show greater morphological heterogeneity, consistent with strong local anchoring from longer tails together with less uniform organization arising from cis-unsaturation. FRAP measurements provide complementary information on fluorescent-probe mobility, which becomes strongly restricted at high lipid concentration for both systems. Variations in pitch and film thickness further modulate the response, producing coexisting regular, distorted, and lipid-enriched textures. Together, these results show that lipid acyl chain structure regulates cholesteric anchoring through its effects on local interactions, collective interfacial organization, and mobility, providing design principles for responsive liquid-crystal interfaces.

Equations of state accurately describe hard-sphere thermodynamics but are generally considered to fail under nanoscale confinement. We show that this failure is geometric rather than thermodynamic: a closed-form, parameter-free mapping from apparent to effective packing fraction restores the accuracy of the Carnahan-Starling equation of state and, with it, the entire analytical thermodynamic framework, including free energies, wall pressures, chemical potentials, and the large-cavity surface response. Applied to overlapping anchored hard-sphere droplets, a geometry inherent to biomolecular force generation, it yields unmixing free energies and full distance-dependent force profiles in quantitative agreement with simulations from the dilute regime to above the bulk freezing transition.

Using Langevin dynamics simulations, I investigate nonequilibrium systems of particles following a density-enhanced motility (DEM) rule: particles are passive below a critical local density and active above it. This mechanism represents an inverse of the conventional quorum-sensing rule. I explore specifically quorums much larger than particle size and at two levels of activity. Above critical values of the density, quorum size, and activity, the system undergoes phase separation into low- and high-energy regions. The passive particles organize into distinct spatial patterns, including holes, stripes, and labyrinthine structures, while the active particles form a gas. I characterize the resulting steady states and identify the qualitative mechanisms governing the selection of different morphological regimes. I further discuss the relevance of these results to biological systems governed by analogous quorum-sensing mechanisms and to biological systems exhibiting related forms of spatial organization. Finally, I present directions for future investigation.

Ferroelectric sessile droplets on a superhydrophobic surface can be put into motion by highly non-uniform electric fields, in a direction that depends on the field sign. This indicates that droplets carry a non-vanishing electrostatic charge, which we interpret as acquired through contact electrification at the interface with the superhydrophobic substrate. This phenomenon is not observed in the presence of a uniform or quasi-uniform electric field, suggesting that droplets charging is favored in highly nonuniform fields able to induce localized distortions of the ferroelectric polarization, in turn producing localized charge accumulation sites. Electrostatic charging is thus understood as a splay-induced contact electrification and interpreted as a strategy to minimize the accumulated charge. Electrophoretic-like motion is observed in about 30% of the experiments, meaning that splay-induced charging requires the proper combination of conditions such as droplets size, distance from the field source, freshness of the substrate coating and other experimental details that are not easily quantified. When charging does not occur, effects related to droplet polarization such as dielectrophoresis, ejection of polarized fluid jets and electrostriction-like deformations are observed.

We investigate the structure and dynamics of a polymer in a fluid containing mobile spherical colloidal crowders of radius $R$. We compare and contrast the behavior with Langevin dynamics (LD) and lattice–Boltzmann molecular dynamics (LBMD), the latter incorporating long-range hydrodynamic interactions. Both the colloid size relative to the monomer radius $r$ and the volume fraction $\phi$ are varied to determine how crowding modifies polymer behavior. Increasing volume fraction induces polymer compaction, with the mechanism strongly dependent on the size ratio $R/r$. Small colloids primarily modify the short-wavelength polymer conformation, causing self-avoiding-walk-like behavior to persist to shorter length scales, whereas large colloids reduce the effective long-wavelength Flory exponent, indicating degraded solvent quality consistent with a confinement-blob picture. Polymer diffusion exhibits distinct behavior in LD and LBMD. In LD, diffusion decreases rapidly and depends strongly on $R/r$; a phenomenological scaling involving $\ln(1+R/r)$ captures this size dependence, and additional scaling with $R_g$ reduces scatter, indicating polymer-scale correlations induced by crowding. In contrast, LBMD diffusion follows an effective-medium-like exponential dependence on concentration, governed by hydrodynamic coupling. Rouse-mode analysis identifies three regimes: scaling breakdown at low volume fraction, Zimm-like behavior at intermediate density in both LD and LB, and at high density hydrodynamic screening in LB with confinement-dominated dynamics in LD.