We study the deformations of pH-responsive spherical microcapsules -- micrometer-scale liquid drops surrounded by thin, solid shells -- under the influence of electrostatic forces. When exposed to a large concentration of NaOH, the microcapsules beco
me highly charged, and expand isotropically. We find that the extent of this expansion can be understood by coupling electrostatics with shell theory; moreover, the expansion dynamics is well described by Darcys law for fluid flow through the microcapsule shell. Unexpectedly, however, below a threshold NaOH concentration, the microcapsules begin to disintegrate, and eventually rupture; they then expand non-uniformly, ultimately forming large, jellyfish-like structures. Our results highlight the fascinating range of behaviors exhibited by pH-responsive microcapsules, driven by the interplay between electrostatic and mechanical forces.
We study the micromechanics of collagen-I gel with the goal of bridging the gap between theory and experiment in the study of biopolymer networks. Three-dimensional images of fluorescently labeled collagen are obtained by confocal microscopy and the
network geometry is extracted using a 3d network skeletonization algorithm. Each fiber is modeled as a worm-like-chain that resists stretching and bending, and each cross-link is modeled as torsional spring. The stress-strain curves of networks at three different densities are compared to rheology measurements. The model shows good agreement with experiment, confirming that strain stiffening of collagen can be explained entirely by geometric realignment of the network, as opposed to entropic stiffening of individual fibers. The model also suggests that at small strains, cross-link deformation is the main contributer to network stiffness whereas at large strains, fiber stretching dominates. Since this modeling effort uses networks with realistic geometries, this analysis can ultimately serve as a tool for understanding how the mechanics of fibers and cross-links at the microscopic level produce the macroscopic properties of the network. While the focus of this paper is on the mechanics of collagen, we demonstrate a framework that can be applied to many biopolymer networks.
