Journal Article

FZJ-2017-00317

http://join2-wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Main/Artwork/join2_logo100x88.png Internal dynamics of microgels: A mesoscale hydrodynamic simulation study

Ghavami, A. ; Kobayashi, H. ; Winkler, R. G.FZJ*

2016
American Institute of Physics Melville, NY

This record in other databases:  

Please use a persistent id in citations: http://hdl.handle.net/2128/18966  doi:10.1063/1.4972893

Abstract: We analyze the dynamics of polymers in a microgel system under different swelling conditions. A microgel particle consists of coarse-grained linear polymers which are tetra-functionally crosslinked and undergoes conformational changes in response to the external stimuli. Here, a broad range of microgel sizes, extending from tightly collapsed to strongly swollen particles, is considered. In order to account for hydrodynamic interactions, the microgel is embedded in a multiparticle collision dynamics fluid while hydrophobic attraction is modelled by an attractive Lennard-Jones potential and swelling of ionic microgels is described through the Debye-Hückel potential. The polymer dynamics is analyzed in terms of the monomer mean square displacement and the intermediate scattering function S(q, t). The scattering function decays in a stretched-exponential manner, with a decay rate exhibiting a crossover from a collective diffusive dynamics at low magnitudes of the wavevector q to a hydrodynamic-dominated dynamics at larger q. There is little difference between the intermediate scattering functions of microgels under good solvent conditions and strongly swollen gels, but strongly collapsed gels exhibit a faster decay at short times and hydrodynamic interactions become screened. In addition, we present results for the dynamics of the crosslinks, which exhibit an unexpected, semiflexible polymer-like dynamics.I. INTRODUCTION

---

Contributing Institute(s):

1. Theorie der Weichen Materie und Biophysik (IAS-2)

Research Program(s):

1. 551 - Functional Macromolecules and Complexes (POF3-551) (POF3-551)

Appears in the scientific report 2016

---

Database coverage:
; ; Current Contents - Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences ; Ebsco Academic Search ; IF < 5 ; JCR ; NCBI Molecular Biology Database ; Nationallizenz ; No Authors Fulltext ; SCOPUS ; Science Citation Index ; Science Citation Index Expanded ; Thomson Reuters Master Journal List ; Web of Science Core Collection

---