Biomedical subjects

Paul P F Wessels

Publications and source records attributed to Paul P F Wessels.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Wall-fluid and liquid-gas interfaces of model colloid-polymer mixtures by simulation and theory.

We perform a study of the interfacial properties of a model suspension of hard sphere colloids with diameter sigma(c) and nonadsorbing ideal polymer coils with diameter sigma(p) . For the mixture in contact with a planar hard wall, we obtain from simulations the wall-fluid interfacial free energy, gamma(wf) , for size ratios q =sigma(p)/sigma(c) =0.6 and 1, using thermodynamic integration, and study the (excess) adsorption of colloids, Gamma(c) , and of polymers, Gamma(p) , at the hard wall. The interfacial tension of the free liquid-gas interface, gamma(lg) , is obtained following three different routes in simulations: (i) from studying the system size dependence of the interfacial width according to the predictions of capillary wave theory, (ii) from the probability distribution of the colloid density at coexistence in the grand canonical ensemble, and (iii) for state points where the colloidal liquid wets the wall completely, from Young's equation relating gamma(lg) to the difference of wall-liquid and wall-gas interfacial tensions, gamma(wl)-gamma(wg) . In addition, we calculate gamma(wf) ,Gamma(c) , and Gamma(p) using density functional theory and a scaled particle theory based on free volume theory. Good agreement is found between the simulation results and those from density functional theory, while the results from scaled particle theory quantitatively deviate but reproduce some essential features. Simulation results for gamma(lg) obtained from the three different routes are all in good agreement. Density functional theory predicts gamma(lg) with good accuracy for high polymer reservoir packing fractions, but yields deviations from the simulation results close to the critical point.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2005

Wetting, drying, and layering of colloid-polymer mixtures at porous interfaces.

The influence of interface porosity on the wetting properties of colloid-polymer mixtures is studied within density functional theory for the Asakura-Oosawa-Vrij model at the surface of a quenched hard-sphere matrix. While the porosity hardly changes the location of the transition from partial to complete wetting at colloidal bulk gas-liquid coexistence, the onset of wetting, as signaled by the first discontinuous layering transition, can be efficiently controlled by tailoring the porosity. We furthermore find that the penetrability of the porous interface induces complete drying into the matrix upon approaching capillary coexistence.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2004

Entropy-induced microphase separation in hard diblock copolymers.

Whereas entropy can induce phase behavior that is as rich as seen in energetic systems, microphase separation remains a very rare phenomenon in entropic systems. In this paper, we present a density functional approach to study the possibility of entropy-driven microphase separation in diblock copolymers. Our model system consists of copolymers composed of freely jointed slender hard rods. The two types of monomeric segments have comparable lengths, but a significantly different diameter, the latter difference providing the driving force for the phase separation. At the same time this system can also exhibit liquid crystalline phases. We treat this system in the appropriate generalization of the Onsager approximation to chain-like particles. Using a linear stability (bifurcation) analysis, we analytically determine the onset of the microseparated and the nematic phases for long chains. We find that for very long chains the microseparated phase always pre-empts the nematic. In the limit of infinitely long chains, the correlations within the chain become Gaussian and the approach becomes exact. This allows us to define a Gaussian limit in which the theory strongly simplifies and the competition between microphase separation and liquid crystal formation can be studied essentially analytically. Our main results are phase diagrams as a function of the remaining model parameters: i.e., the diameter ratio, the length ratio, and the number ratio of the two types of segments. We also determine the amplitude of the inhomogeneous order as a function of position along the chain at the onset of the microphase separation instability. Finally, we give suggestions as to how this type of entropy-induced microphase separation could be observed experimentally.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2003

Capillary condensation and interface structure of a model colloid-polymer mixture in a porous medium.

We consider the Asakura-Oosawa model of hard sphere colloids and ideal polymers in contact with a porous matrix modeled by immobilized configurations of hard spheres. For this ternary mixture a fundamental measure density functional theory is employed, where the matrix particles are quenched and the colloids and polymers are annealed, i.e., allowed to equilibrate. We study capillary condensation of the mixture in a small sample of matrix as well as demixing and the fluid-fluid interface inside a bulk matrix. Density profiles normal to the interface and surface tensions are calculated and compared to the case without matrix. Two kinds of matrices are considered: (i) colloid-sized matrix particles at low packing fractions and (ii) large matrix particles at high packing fractions. These two cases show fundamentally different behavior and should both be experimentally realizable. Furthermore, we argue that capillary condensation of a colloidal suspension could be experimentally accessible. We find that in case (ii), even at high packing fractions, the main effect of the matrix is to exclude volume and, to high accuracy, the results can be mapped onto those of the same system without matrix via a simple rescaling.

Biophysics↗