Biswas, S. orcid.org/0000-0003-3184-5295, Mukherjee, B. orcid.org/0000-0003-0104-7452 and Chakrabarti, B. orcid.org/0000-0003-2699-4157 (2022) Thermodynamics predicts a stable microdroplet phase in polymer–gel mixtures undergoing elastic phase separation. Soft Matter, 18 (42). pp. 8117-8123. ISSN 1744-683X
Abstract
We study the thermodynamics of binary mixtures with the volume fraction of the minority component less than the amount required to form a flat interface and show that the surface tension dominated equilibrium phase of the mixture forms a single macroscopic droplet. Elastic interactions in gel–polymer mixtures stabilize a phase with multiple droplets. Using a mean-field free energy we compute the droplet size as a function of the interfacial tension, Flory parameter, and elastic moduli of the gel. Our results illustrate the role of elastic interactions in dictating the phase behavior of biopolymers undergoing liquid-liquid phase separation.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2022. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Physics and Astronomy (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 09 Feb 2023 16:29 |
Last Modified: | 09 Feb 2023 16:29 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1039/d2sm01101h |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:196250 |