Prof. Elena Dormidontova, Department of Physics, University of Connecticut

Soft Matter Physics: Computer modeling and Theory

Soft matter includes a broad range of structurally different materials ranging from small molecules such as lipids and liquid crystals to macromolecules, biopolymers, and colloids. Soft matter systems extend over large space and time scales from angstroms to micrometers and from picoseconds to days. Entropy plays an important role in these systems with the free energy landscape being complex and self-assembly prevalent. To be able to predict properties and create new functional materials for energy, photonics, nanoelectronics, nanomedicine, sensors, and other advanced applications, it is essential to understand the principles of self-assembly and the origins of experimentally observed effects. Computer simulations and theory play an increasingly important role in gaining these fundamental insights into the complex behavior of these systems, as it allows to achieve of atomistic-level details that are often inaccessible experimentally and guide experimental material development by predicting self-assembly pathways depending on structural properties of the building elements and external conditions. Several examples of ongoing and planned interdisciplinary research projects, some in collaboration with experimental groups, will be discussed in connection with corresponding computer modeling approaches and potential material applications.