Compressible Microgels in Concentrated Suspensions: Phase Behavior, Flow Properties, and Scattering Techniques to Probe Their Structure and Dynamics

Real and In Silico Microgels Show Comparable Bulk Moduli Below and Above the Volume Phase Transition

“…[2] An increase in temperature reduces the quality of water as a solvent, so that it is expelled from the particle. [8] This enables the on-demand change of packing fraction by simply adjusting the temperature, allowing, for instance, to study the crystallization of soft spheres at different packing fractions, [9][10][11] the glass-to-jamming transition, [12][13][14] and the flow behavior of complex fluids. [15,16] Consequently, the prediction of microgel properties using computer simulations, in silico, holds significant appeal and is already a common procedure.…”

Understanding the monomer deuteration effect on the transition temperature of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) microgels in H2O

“…In both cases, a mixture of H 2 O and D 2 O can be used to selectively mask the deuterated or protonated part of the sample. 31 This approach has been successfully used to characterize specific regions in the microgels 6,28,32,33 or study the response of individual microgels to crowding. 9,[24][25][26][27] However, it has to be taken into account that deuteration can influence the reactivity of monomers and thus structureproperty relationships of polymers might be affected.…”

“…In both cases, a mixture of H 2 O and D 2 O can be used to selectively mask the deuterated or protonated part of the sample. 31 This approach has been successfully used to characterize specific regions in the microgels 6,28,32,33 or study the response of individual microgels to crowding. 9,24–27…”

A facile method to determine the molar mass of soft nanoparticles

“…[4] Also the flow properties of colloidal suspensions can depend on the colloidal concentration. [5] Determination of the molar mass of soft nanoparticles can be achieved via static light scattering (SLS) with Zimm plot analysis [6][7][8][9] or via viscosimetry yielding the mass of a single microgel from which the molar mass is obtained by multiplication with Avogadro's number. [9][10][11] Analytical Ultracentrifugation is also able to yield the molar mass, requiring knowledge about further properties of the particles namely the partial specific volume which is the inverse of it's density and/or their anisotropy.…”