Soft Materials 

About: Soft Materials is an academic journal published by Marcel Dekker. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Self-healing hydrogels & Polymer. It has an ISSN identifier of 1539-445X. Over the lifetime, 640 publications have been published receiving 6727 citations.

Influence of Processing Conditions on Polymorphism and Nanofiber Morphology of Electroactive Poly(vinylidene fluoride) Electrospun Membranes

Abstract: Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) electrospun membranes are obtained from a 20% w/w solution of the polymer in dimethyl formamide. Processing parameters are systematically changed to analyze their influence on fiber morphology, fiber orientation, and on the crystallinity and crystal phase of the membranes. The PVDF concentration and travelling distance from the needle to the collector are kept fixed while the influence of the flow rate, needle diameter, applied voltage, and rotating collector speed is considered. The study allows concluding that those parameters leading to a higher stretching of the jet or straining of the fibrils during collection favor the formation of the electroactive β-phase while the total crystalline fraction depends only slightly on the electrospinning conditions.

Formation of Concentrated Nanoemulsions by Extreme Shear

Abstract: We have systematically investigated the production of “nanoemulsions,” droplets of one liquid phase in another immiscible liquid phase that have diameters less than 100 nm. Our approach relies on a combination of extreme shear due to multipass, high‐pressure microfluidic injection and systematic control of the emulsion's composition. By repeatedly shearing a silicone oil‐in‐water emulsion in an inhomogeneous extensional shear flow, the multipass approach enables us to reduce the droplet polydispersity and average radius. Using dynamic light scattering, we study the changes in the average radius, ⟨a⟩, as a function of the number of passes, driving injection pressure (i.e., shear rate), droplet volume fraction, surfactant concentration, and droplet oil viscosity. The smallest nanoemulsion that we obtain has ⟨a⟩=18 nm. At large droplet volume fractions φ≥0.65, we observe phase inversion, rather than a reduction in the droplet size. This provides evidence that droplet coalescence can occur during ext...

Organogels as Matrices for Controlled Drug Delivery: A Review on the Current State

Abstract: Over the last two decades, organogels have found tremendous use in the pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetics industries with notable developments as drug delivery matrices and trans and saturated fat replacers in processed foods. The functionality of organogels benefits from their ease of preparation, cost effectiveness, and ability to contain both hydrophilic and lipophilic constituents. This review provides thorough insight into different organogelators, their mechanisms of organogel formation, various characterization techniques and their biocompatibility when administered in vivo. Finally, a special treatise is given on the applications of organogels as controlled drug delivery vehicles for topical, dermal/transdermal, parenteral, oral, and nasal routes. In situ forming organogels and their potential for tailored release of incorporated active ingredients are also discussed.

On Coarse-Graining by the Inverse Monte Carlo Method: Dissipative Particle Dynamics Simulations Made to a Precise Tool in Soft Matter Modeling

Abstract: We present a promising coarse-graining strategy for linking micro- and mesoscales of soft matter systems. The approach is based on effective pairwise interaction potentials obtained from detailed atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, which are then used in coarse-grained dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations. Here, the effective potentials were obtained by applying the inverse Monte Carlo method [Lyubartsev and Laaksonen, Phys. Rev. E. 52, 3730 (1995)] on a chosen subset of degrees of freedom described in terms of radial distribution functions. In our first application of the method, the effective potentials were used in DPD simulations of aqueous NaCl solutions. With the same computational effort we were able to simulate systems of one order of magnitude larger than the MD simulations. The results from the MD and DPD simulations are in excellent agreement.

Molecular Driving Forces. Statistical Thermodynamics in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Nanoscience

Abstract: The second edition of “Molecular Driving Forces. Statistical Thermodynamics in Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Nanoscience” by Ken A. Dill and Sarina Bromberg is an exciting statistical mechanics t...