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Soft ULC Microgels at the Interface Interact and Flow as Hertzian-Like Colloids

Ruiz-Franco, José ; Höfken, Tom ; Schmidt, Maximilian M. ; Bochenek, Steffen ; Zaccarelli, Emanuela and Scotti, Andrea LU orcid (2025) In Advanced Materials Interfaces 12(13).
Abstract

Soft pair potentials predict a reentrant liquid phase for high concentrations, a behavior not observed experimentally. Here, very soft microgels confined at an oil-water interface are used as a model system of particles interacting via a soft potential in 2D. Interfacial rheology measurements demonstrate the existence of different flow regimes that depend on the compression of the monolayer. Such a compression also leads to a non-monotonic variation of the elastic moduli and of the yield stress of the monolayer. These results, together with the equilibrium phase behavior of the monolayer, are reproduced in molecular dynamics simulations of a 2D system of particles interacting with a Hertzian-like potential. Remarkably, due to the... (More)

Soft pair potentials predict a reentrant liquid phase for high concentrations, a behavior not observed experimentally. Here, very soft microgels confined at an oil-water interface are used as a model system of particles interacting via a soft potential in 2D. Interfacial rheology measurements demonstrate the existence of different flow regimes that depend on the compression of the monolayer. Such a compression also leads to a non-monotonic variation of the elastic moduli and of the yield stress of the monolayer. These results, together with the equilibrium phase behavior of the monolayer, are reproduced in molecular dynamics simulations of a 2D system of particles interacting with a Hertzian-like potential. Remarkably, due to the non-monotonic variation of the elastic moduli, we observe isoelastic points where the monolayer shows the same stiffness at very different concentrations. These points are the experimental manifestation of the predicted reentrant liquid phase.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
colloids, interfacial rheology, isoelasticity, ULC microgels
in
Advanced Materials Interfaces
volume
12
issue
13
article number
2500242
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • scopus:105007825265
ISSN
2196-7350
DOI
10.1002/admi.202500242
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
71b908bc-f967-4536-a560-0f4e9ffeae66
date added to LUP
2025-12-12 13:59:02
date last changed
2025-12-12 13:59:02
@article{71b908bc-f967-4536-a560-0f4e9ffeae66,
  abstract     = {{<p>Soft pair potentials predict a reentrant liquid phase for high concentrations, a behavior not observed experimentally. Here, very soft microgels confined at an oil-water interface are used as a model system of particles interacting via a soft potential in 2D. Interfacial rheology measurements demonstrate the existence of different flow regimes that depend on the compression of the monolayer. Such a compression also leads to a non-monotonic variation of the elastic moduli and of the yield stress of the monolayer. These results, together with the equilibrium phase behavior of the monolayer, are reproduced in molecular dynamics simulations of a 2D system of particles interacting with a Hertzian-like potential. Remarkably, due to the non-monotonic variation of the elastic moduli, we observe isoelastic points where the monolayer shows the same stiffness at very different concentrations. These points are the experimental manifestation of the predicted reentrant liquid phase.</p>}},
  author       = {{Ruiz-Franco, José and Höfken, Tom and Schmidt, Maximilian M. and Bochenek, Steffen and Zaccarelli, Emanuela and Scotti, Andrea}},
  issn         = {{2196-7350}},
  keywords     = {{colloids; interfacial rheology; isoelasticity; ULC microgels}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{13}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{Advanced Materials Interfaces}},
  title        = {{Soft ULC Microgels at the Interface Interact and Flow as Hertzian-Like Colloids}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/admi.202500242}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/admi.202500242}},
  volume       = {{12}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}