Dynamics of polymers in coarse-grained nematic solvents.

ABSTRACT: Polymers are a primary building block in many biomaterials, often interacting with anisotropic backgrounds. While previous studies have considered polymer dynamics within nematic solvents, rarely are the effects of anisotropic viscosity and polymer elongation differentiated. Here, we study polymers embedded in nematic liquid crystals with isotropic viscosity via numerical simulations to explicitly investigate the effect of nematicity on macromolecular conformation and how conformation alone can produce anisotropic dynamics. We employ a hybrid multi-particle collision dynamics and molecular dynamics technique that captures nematic orientation, thermal fluctuations and hydrodynamic interactions. The coupling of the polymer segments to the director field of the surrounding nematic elon

SUBMITTER: Valei ZK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11612746 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature