Dissipative particle dynamics simulation study on ATRP-brush modification of variably shaped surfaces and biopolymer adsorption

Evolution Kinetics of Stabilizing Pickering Emulsion by Brush-Modified Janus Particles: DPD Simulation and Experimental Insights

In the present study, we report the evolution of stabilizing Pickering emulsions using brush-modified Janus particles (JPs), utilizing the dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulation technique. Our results are subsequently corroborated with experimental findings. Each JP has one-half of the hydrophobic surface, with the other half embedded with hydrophilic polymer brushes grown via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). Our generic simulation model analyzes the chemical kinetics of polymer brush growth on one-half of the initiator-embedded microparticle (MP) surface, resulting in the formation of JP. This involves evaluating monomer conversion and reaction rates. Our results exhibit a substantial influence of the number of JPs, grafted brush density, and brush length on oil-in-water emulsion stability. We studied the evolution kinetics and stability of emulsion formation by analyzing the growth of average domain size and corresponding scaling functions up to a late time limit. This study aims to clarify the connection between the size, quantity, and functionality of JPs and the stability of Pickering emulsions.

In silico approaches to investigate enzyme immobilization: a comprehensive systematic review

Enzymes are popular catalysts with many applications, especially in industry. Biocatalyst usage on a large scale is facing some limitations, such as low operational stability, low recyclability, and high enzyme cost. Enzyme immobilization is a beneficial strategy to solve these problems. Bioinformatics tools can often correctly predict immobilization outcomes, resulting in a cost-effective experimental phase with the least time consumed. This study provides an overview of in silico methods predicting immobilization processes via a comprehensive systematic review of published articles till 11 December 2022. It also mentions the strengths and weaknesses of the processes and explains the computational analyses in each method that are required for immobilization assessment. In this regard, Web of Science and Scopus databases were screened to gain relevant publications. After screening the gathered documents (n = 3873), 60 articles were selected for the review. The selected papers have applied in silico procedures including only molecular dynamics (MD) simulations (n = 20), parallel tempering Monte Carlo (PTMC) and MD simulations (n = 3), MD and docking (n = 1), density functional theory (DFT) and MD (n = 1), only docking (n = 11), metal ion binding site prediction (MIB) server and docking (n = 2), docking and DFT (n = 1), docking and analysis of enzyme surfaces (n = 1), only DFT (n = 1), only MIB server (n = 2), analysis of an enzyme structure and surface (n = 12), rational design of immobilized derivatives (RDID) software (n = 3), and dissipative particle dynamics (DPD; n = 2). In most included studies (n = 51), enzyme immobilization was investigated experimentally in addition to in silico evaluation.

Growth kinetics and morphology characterization of binary polymeric fluid under random photo-illumination

We present a comprehensive study using dissipative particle dynamics simulations to investigate phase separation kinetics (PSK) in three-dimensional (3d) polymeric fluids under random photo-illumination. We consider two scenarios: polymer blends with active radicals at one end of each immiscible chain and block copolymer (BCP) melts with photosensitive bonds linking incompatible blocks. The phase separation (PS) is induced by temperature quench of the initial homogeneously mixed system. Simultaneously, the system experiences random photo-illumination, simulated by two concurrent random events: (a) the recombination of active radicals in polymer blends and (b) the breaking of photosensitive bonds in BCP chains. Variations in the bond-breaking probability, Pb, mimic the change in light intensity. The length scale follows power law growth, R(t) ∼ tϕ, where ϕ represents the growth exponent. Increasing Pb results in a gradual transition in growth kinetics from micro-PS to macro-PS, accompanied by corresponding transition probabilities for both systems. Micro-PSK dominates the evolution process at low Pb values. The scaling functions exhibit data overlap for most scaled distances, indicating the statistical self-similarity of evolving patterns. Our study enhances the understanding of PSK in polymeric fluids, revealing the impact of photosensitive bonds and active radicals. Furthermore, it suggests the potential for designing novel polymeric materials with desired properties.

Segregation of fluids with polymer additives at domain interfaces: a dissipative particle dynamics study

This paper investigates the phase separation kinetics of ternary fluid mixtures composed of a polymeric component (C) and two simple fluids (A and B) using dissipative particle dynamics simulations with a system dimensionality of d = 3. We model the affinities between the components to enable the settling of the polymeric component at the interface of fluids A and B. Thus, the system evolves to form polymer coated morphologies, enabling alteration of the fluids' interfacial properties. This manipulation can be utilized across various disciplines, such as the stabilization of emulsions and foams, rheological control, biomimetic design, and surface modification. We probe the effects of various parameters, such as the polymeric concentration, chain stiffness, and length, on the phase separation kinetics of the system. The simulation results show that changes in the concentration of flexible polymers exhibit perfect dynamic scaling for coated morphologies. The growth rate decreases as the polymeric composition is increased due to reduced surface tension and restricted connectivity between A- and B-rich clusters. Variations in the polymer chain rigidity at fixed composition ratios and degrees of polymerization slow the evolution kinetics of AB fluids marginally, although the effect is more pronounced for perfectly rigid chains. Whereas flexible polymer chain lengths at fixed composition ratios slow down the segregation kinetics of AB fluids slightly, varying the chain lengths of perfectly rigid polymers leads to a significant deviation in the length scale and dynamic scaling for the evolved coated morphologies. The characteristic length scale follows a power-law growth with a growth exponent ϕ that shows a crossover from the viscous to the inertial hydrodynamic regime, where the values of ϕ depend on the constraints imposed on the system.