Themed collection Soft Matter Open Access Spotlight

In this perspective, we discuss the fundamental mechanisms and the length scales responsible for the formation of micro- and nanoplastics (MNPLs), MNPL size, shape, and morphologies, their metrology, and open questions in the field.

Bacterial biofilms that grow under confinement can mechanically interact with their environment to generate various global geometries and forms of cellular patterning.

The co-assembly of nanometer- and submicrometer-sized colloidal particles can result in multi-component superstructures with unique properties.

Microcontact printing (μCP) is a versatile and low-cost technique for surface patterning, allowing for the fabrication of intricate designs with relative ease.

We review the recent theoretical and simulation studies on interactions between curvature-inducing proteins and membranes.

This review clarifies the structure–process–property relationship in PVA-based polarizers.

Nanoprecipitation is a versatile, low-energy technique for synthesizing nanomaterials through phase separation, enabling precise tuning of nanomaterial properties.

Ion-conducting polymers (ICPs) are gaining interest in various scientific and technological fields. This review highlights advancements in ICP thin films using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and addresses challenges of traditional methods.

This review explores network designs that address the trade-off between toughness and elasticity, offering strategies to develop materials with both high fracture resistance and low hysteresis for advanced applications.

This review is about drops of a liquid with high dielectric permittivity that slide over a solid surface with high electrical resistivity.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been introduced through detailed tutorials, accompanied by a code package, as a powerful technique suitable for versatile investigations in fluid mechanics and soft matter physics.

The spreading of a drop in a wedge shows anomalous diffusion scaling, with the diffusion exponent directly linked to the fluid's rheological properties.

In models of Pickering emulsion stabilisation, it is assumed that Young’s equation defines the angle of a solid particle at the oil/water interface. Here, we consider the implications for stability when the particle is displaced by an external force.

A method to extract gel-forming mucins from pig trachea is developed. These airway mucins form viscous gels resembling human airway mucus, making them a useful model for lung disease research.

Connecting active and passive monomers to form partially active polymers can lead to directed transport towards regions of high or low chemical concentration.

Polymer infiltration into nanoporous gold dynamically tunes the optical response of the nanocomposite. UV-vis spectroscopy and DDA show red-shifting of plasmon resonance as infiltration progresses, enabling in situ tracking of polymer dynamics.

Optimal resetting protocols for active agents are determined by the intricate interplay of resetting, rotational Brownian noise, and active motion.

In a confined two-dimensional geometry shaken vertically, spinning rings immersed in spherical beads exhibit long-range, depletion-like entropic interactions—forming dimers at high bead concentration and repelling at low concentration.

We show that micellar solution properties of sodium lauryl ether sulphate surfactants can be described from the average properties of their building blocks. This offers critical insights in understanding and formulating complex surfactant systems.

E. coli swims by rotating a bundle of helical flagella and tumbles when one reverses its sense of rotation. Using hydrodynamic simulations, we show that near surfaces tumbling causes smaller reorientations and favors the in-plane forward direction.

This paper proposed a new theoretical framework to mathematically model defect motion by constructing integral curves defined from the director field of dry active nematic system based on complex analysis.

This study develops low-data machine learning models to predict thermodynamic properties of solid–solid transitions in plastic crystals, identifying key physical descriptors of these materials in sparse-data regimes.

Recently discovered materials have opened up the possibility of easily and repeatably altering the ratio among the elastic constants characterizing nematic liquid crystals.

For sufficiently thick PEMs of weak polyelectrolytes assembled in the non-linear growth regime, all-star PEMs showed higher Young’s modulus and were more affected by salt annealing than all-linear PEMs.

Droplet impact on granular beds shows two crater regimes set by splash appearance. The influence of grain diameter is unified by a new dimensionless number, capturing inertial dissipation through grain contacts.

Freedericksz transitions in the nematic and smectic ZA phases of DIO reveal important information about the elastic properties of this material.

Weakly charged, thermoresponsive microgels are studied in the presence and absence of salt focusing on the phase behavior in dense packings. Temperature-dependent phase diagrams for both states are derived.

The pressure saturation with depth is studied in submerged columns of grains denser and lighter than water. The total force acting on the particles is redirected towards the container walls, resulting in a buoyancy-driven Janssen effect.

We computationally study active mixtures with two distinct nonzero activities. We identify three regimes of emergent behaviors (e.g. enhanced avalanche events, microphase separation) and propose the microscopic physical mechanism giving rise to them.

The molecular dynamics of thin films and the adsorbed layer of poly(2-vinylpyridine) were investigated using broadband dielectric spectroscopy and spectroscopic ellipsometry.

Even poor machine learning predictions are useful as experimental guides. We us ML predictions on >50 000 granular clogging events to identify promising experiments which confirm and explain the important role of potential arch cornerstones.

In this study, Brownian dynamics simulations are implemented to investigate the motion of a bottom-heavy, charged Janus particle near a charged wall under varying shear flow conditions.

We uncover a new class of two-dimensional active systems with internal stresses which display long-range structural order and hyperuniformity. This notably includes models of two-dimensional biological tissues surrounded by a dissipative medium.

Piezoelectricity in biological soft tissues is a controversial issue with differing opinions.

We combine discrete element method simulations, evolutionary algorithms, and experiments to search for granular packings of variable modulus (VM) particles arranged in a triangular lattice with optimal bulk mechanical properties.

The adhesion energy (G_c) divided by the maximum elongation of the PSA layer (a_f), which is defined as the viscous dissipative energy density, and the strain rate has a linear relationship on a logarithmic scale, independent of the tape thickness.

Dense suspensions of Quincke random walkers exhibit turbulent-like flows mimicking those of bacterial suspensions.

Fire ant rafts dynamically self-organize to conserve energy by separating into active and inactive phases, through formation of stationary clusters that can dissolve rapidly under external stimuli, enabling a swift decentralized collective response.

SANS and rheology of synergistic SDS–DDAO mixed micelle solutions in the vicinity of the phase boundary exhibit pronounced correlations between structure factor, micelle elongation, and solution viscosity as a function of surfactant mixing ratio.

A locally modified restricted primitive model shows enhanced ion clustering, causing significant long-ranged double-layer forces comparable to experiments. These forces stem from cluster–cluster correlations, largely independent of the short-range potential form.

A rodlike nanoparticle lingers in larger pores of hydrogels, and quickly traverses smaller pores by longitudinal diffusion.

Suspensions of soft particles assemble into train-like structures when flowing in shallow rectangular channels. It is found that oscillatory flow facilitates a significant improvement in the ordered particle arrangements relative to steady flow.

The flow behavior of soft, wetted hydrogel particles is affected by the adhesive properties of the particles. We describe their adhesive properties and how adhesion affects their shear banding and dissipation across a range of confining stresses.

Snapshots showing the slab's movement over time with its boundaries (black line), center of mass X(t) (dashed line), and red/purple particles at source/sink interfaces. Colors persist to track particle positions over time.

This work provides a molecular-scale explanation for the increased activity and selectivity of lipase immobilized on silica at water/oil interfaces.

The self-assembly and conformation in aqueous solution and bioactivity of three lipopeptides bearing lysine-rich tripeptide sequences are compared for C₁₆-KFK, C₁₆-KWK, and C₁₆-KYK, where C₁₆ denotes an N-terminal hexadecyl (palmitoyl) chain.

We use machine learning to predict single-cell motility in heterogeneous layers using shape features. Our model distinguishes low- from high-motility cells, with potential for physics-inspired predictions from static images of cell dynamics.

A comprehensive understanding of how fluoroalkyl side chains govern CO₂ solubility and diffusivity, ultimately impacting gas permeability, is achieved through complementary ATR-FTIR and QCM analyses.

Doxorubicin (DOX) was coloaded with magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) into the core of a niosome (NS). On the application of a magnetic field the MNPs produced heat and released the DOX.

Under shear flow, filamentous tactoids undergo a double symmetry breaking in both shape and internal director field. The direction of the asymmetry switches when the mesoscopic chirality of the colloids is inverted, revealing how mesoscopic structure governs macroscopic behavior.

The growth of microorganisms entrapped in hydrogels is important for biotechnological and natural processes. Using diatoms in agar as model system, this study shows that residual stress regulates the growth of microorganisms inside hydrogels.

PNIPAM-co-APMH microgels and microgel monolayers are investigated by the colloidal probe technique. We show how the microgel concentration affects the softness, charge and stability of the monolayers.

Phase-separated morphology plays a pivotal role in determining the potential applications of blend thin films. Machine learning-based classification framework is developed to predict the morphology of PS/PMMA blend thin films.

Our novel approach studies the relationship between grain morphology, intergranular friction, and the jamming packing fraction.

We develop the first experimental protocol to determine brain tissue's non-linear viscoelastic properties in torsion and validate the results with numerical simulations of the experiments using FEniCS.

Phase diagram for a magnetic polymer with Blume–Emery–Griffith spins, with snapshots (phases: swollen disordered, SD; compact ordered, CO; compact disordered, CD). These results may be relevant to understand epigenetic memory in chromatin.

Colloids provide a unique platform in which to explore the effect of activity upon well-controlled thermal many-body systems. Until now, experiments have been largely limited to 2d. This work describes the phase behaviour and dynamics of a 3d active colloidal system.

Varying the frequency of alternating current (AC) electric fields drives the assembly of different phases comprising Janus microswimmers confined under gravity.

Grains expand via diffusion (e.g., heat, humidity) while confined by boundaries. Molecular dynamics and theory show that resulting stress patterns are captured by odd-dipole screening, demonstrating that growth-induced mechanics in disordered granular matter can be predicted analytically.

We present a simplified theory for semiflexible flagella under the action of a traveling-wave perturbation that emulates the organized active forces generated by molecular motors, capable of inducing beating patterns to the filament.

The influence of uniaxial deformation on a soft colloidal monolayer confined at a fluid interface is studied by in situ small-angle light scattering in real time.

Highly cross-linked epoxy resins caused horizontal shift factor in large-stress creep to deviate from Williams–Landel–Ferry equation, exhibiting Arrhenius-type behaviour.

Topographic templates enable ordering nanoscale components. Using them to organize soft, morphologically-dynamic polymeric micelles enables biasing the resulting film pattern, from subtle structural differences to distinct co-existing morphologies.

Nonequilibrium hard-sphere hyperuniform glasses (left panel) exist within the stealthy hyperuniform ground-state manifold. Accessible packing fractions for all χ within the disordered regime (grey region in the left panel).

When driven with a combination of two independent shear types, disordered materials can form order-dependent memories of their deformation.

We use experiments and simulations to investigate the propulsion of flagella with uniform intrinsic curvature in the stress-free state. Results suggest the propulsion can transition between positive and negative by changing curvature or Sp.

High-pressure SANS shows that the influence of pressure on the nanostructure of application-relevant bicontinuous microemulsions is amplified in the presence of propane, where a notably lower structural order than in n-decane microemulsions is found.

Exuded liquid drops can carry charge due to the Volta potential when in contact with metal surfaces, yet plastics introduce history-dependent charging effects. Our experiments quantify these effects with 10 femtocoulomb resolution.

We present an experimental and theoretical framework to investigate Brownian particles in a cosine potential, focusing on a generalized intermediate scattering function that captures the full spatio-temporal dynamics.

Derivatives of branched copolymer surfactants enable the design of “smart” ceramic formulations for direct ink writing. Emulsion gels with different microstructure show distinctive transitions when yielding, which correlate with print quality.