Emergence of Capillary Waves in Miscible Coflowing Fluids.

We show that capillary waves can exist at the boundary between miscible coflowing fluids. We unveil that the interplay between transient interfacial stresses and confinement drives the progressive transition from the well-known inertial regime, characterized by a frequency independent wave number, k∼ω^{0}, to a capillary wave scaling, k∼ω^{2/3}, unexpected for miscible fluids. This allows us to measure the effective interfacial tension between miscible fluids and its rapid decay on timescales never probed so far, which we rationalize with a model going beyond square-gradient theories.

Effect of Essential Oil on Model Lipid Membranes.

essential oil is a natural substance able to inhibit the growth of several pathogens. This antimicrobial effect is often attributed to its ability to penetrate cellular structures and disrupt them. Although these properties are recognized as playing a key role in the mechanism of action of this substance, many unresolved issues still exist, and fundamental studies focused on such aspects are scarce.

Water-Driven Sol-Gel Transition in Native Cellulose/1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium Acetate Solutions.

The addition of water to native cellulose/1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate solutions catalyzes the formation of gels, where polymer chain-chain intermolecular associations act as cross-links. However, the relationship between water content (), polymer concentration (), and gel strength is still missing. This study provides the fundamentals to design water-induced gels.

A review of stimuli-responsive polymer-based gating membranes.

The formation and properties of smart (stimuli-responsive) membranes are reviewed, with a special focus on temperature and pH triggering of gating to water, ions, polymers, nanoparticles, or other molecules of interest. The review is organized in two parts, starting with all-smart membranes based on intrinsically smart materials, in particular of the poly(-isopropylacrylamide) family and similar polymers. The key steps of membrane fabrication are discussed, namely the deposition into thin films, functionalization of pores, and the secondary crosslinking of pre-existing microgel particles into membranes.

Toward a Unified Description of the Electrostatic Assembly of Microgels and Nanoparticles.

The interplay of soft responsive particles, such as microgels, with nanoparticles (NPs) yields highly versatile complexes that show great potential for applications, ranging from plasmonic sensing to catalysis and drug delivery. However, the microgel-NP assembly process has not been investigated so far at the microscopic level, thus hindering the possibility of designing such hybrid systems a priori. In this work, we combine state-of-the-art numerical simulations with experiments to elucidate the fundamental mechanisms taking place when microgel-NP assembly is controlled by electrostatic interactions and the associated effects on the structure of the resulting complexes.