The importance of microscopic details in the description of the behavior of polymeric nanostructured systems, such as hairy nanoparticles, has been lately discussed via experimental and theoretical approaches. Here we focus on star polymers, which represent well-defined soft nano-objects. By means of atomistic molecular dynamics simulations, we provide a quantitative study about the effect of chemistry on the penetrability of star polymers in a melt, which cannot be considered by generic coarse-grained models. The "effective softness" estimated for two dissimilar polymers is confronted with available literature data. A consistent picture about the star penetrability can be drawn when the star internal packing is taken into consideration besides the number and the length of the star arms. These findings, together with the recently introduced two-layer model, represent a step forward in providing a fundamental understanding of the soft character of stars and guiding their design toward advanced applications, such as in all-polymer nanocomposites.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.2c04213 | DOI Listing |
ACS Nano
January 2025
Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences, Beijing 100193, P. R. China.
The quantum-well-like two-dimensional lead-halide perovskites exhibit strongly confined excitons due to the quantum confinement and reduced dielectric screening effect, which feature intriguing excitonic effects. The ionic nature of the perovskite crystal and the "softness" of the lattice induce the complex lattice dynamics. There are still open questions about how the soft lattices decorate the nature of excitons in these hybrid materials.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChemistry
January 2025
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, N9B 3P4, Canada.
Attachment of three different heterocycles with electron donor or acceptor character to a central 1,3,5-triazine core generates readily soluble side-chain free dyes with two displaying soft crystalline mesomorphism and one displaying a nematic liquid crystal phase as confirmed by polarized optical microscopy, calorimetry, gravimetric analysis, and powder X-ray diffraction. Equally intriguing is the dyes' relatively strong electronic communication between donor and acceptor subchromophores that are meta-conjugated to one another, which is experimentally observed as a broad intramolecular charge-transfer absorption that can extend over 100 nm past the most intense absorption event and is computationally confirmed through density functional theory (DFT) evaluations of the molecular ground- and excited-state properties. This molecular design permits the preparation of dyes with panchromatic absorption not just based on the additive absorption of individual subchromophores.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMultimed Man Cardiothorac Surg
January 2025
Hibino Laboratory, University of Chicago Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA.
With the increase of patients with adult congenital heart disease, the number of high-risk multiple redo sternotomies is increasing. Calcified conduit embedded in the sternum or large vessels attached to the sternum presents an especially challenging case. This video tutorial presents a simple safe redo sternotomy technique using an ultrasonic bone scalpel in such high-risk patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSmall
January 2025
Polymer Science & Engineering Department, Conte Center for Polymer Research, University of Massachusetts, 120 Governors Drive, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA.
BMC Nurs
January 2025
Nursing Department, School of Medicine, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200072, China.
Objective: A growing body of research shows that the organizational silence among nurses not only affects their job satisfaction and performance but also exacerbates their intention to leave their jobs, posing a threat to the long-term stability of the nursing team. Therefore, the aim of this study was to synthesize existing qualitative research to explore the real experiences of nurses' organizational silence behavior and gain insight into the motivations and feelings behind it.
Design: A qualitative review.
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