Dr Richard Sear
Senior Lecturer
Email: r.sear@surrey.ac.uk
Phone: Work: 01483 68 6793
Room no: 10 BB 03
Further information
Biography
I started my scientific career with a 6-year stint in Sheffield. Both my BSc (Chemical Physics) and my PhD are from the University of Sheffield. I did my PhD with George Jackson, then of the Department of Chemistry of the University of Sheffield, now of Imperial College. After my PhD I did 1 2-year postdoc in AMOLF (Amsterdam) with Bela Mulder and Daan Frenkel, and an 11-month postdoc in UCLA (University of California Los Angeles) with Bill Gelbart and Jim Heath. I was appointed a lecturer here at Surrey in 1998. During my time here, I have been admissions tutor (ug) for 4 years, and now have web, blogging and general marketing responsibilities. I have mostly taught maths, computing and stat mech.
I am a theoretical (well really more of a computational) physicist with a stat mech of soft matter and liquids background. I did things like liquids and liquid-crystal phase behaviour for my PhD with George. In Amsterdam I also worked on phase behaviour but there mostly on understanding the phase behaviour of colloids. From Daan and his group I also picked up an interest in protein crystallisation and in nucleation. Nucleation is how first-order phase teansitions such as crystallisation start. At UCLA I tried to understand experimental data obtaned by Jim Heath's group on the self-assembly of nanoparticles at the air-water interface.
In my 12 years at Surrey I have moved into studying nucleation, in recent years particularly of crystals, and into biological physics. I have modelled both cell signalling and proteins that appear to phase separate in living cells. Recent work has focussed on the dynamics of proteins inside cells.
In 2010 2 PhD students of mine successfully viva-ed: Piyapong Asanithi, who worked on applications of carbon nanotubes, e.g., to protein crystallisation, and Amanda Page, who studied the nucleation of crystals via computer simulation. My h-index is 21.
Although I have lived my adult life in England (and the Netherlands/USA) I grew up in South Wales. My local rugby team is the Ospreys.
Research Interests
These are quite broad. I am a theoretical physicist/physical chemist by training. Most of my theoretical work is either on the computer simulation of the nucleation (mainly of crystal phases), or theoretical biological physics (mainly signalling processes inside cells, diffusion/transport inside cells or spatial organisation of ce
See my research webpage for further details of my research.
Research Collaborations
Within the department I work extensively with Prof Joe Keddie. I also collaborate with Prof Simon Hughes, a biologist at KCL.
Publications
Highlights
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(2010) 'Design Principles for Broad-Spectrum Protein-Crystal Nucleants with Nanoscale Pits'. AMER PHYSICAL SOC PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 105 (20) Article number ARTN 205501 Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/7328/
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(2009) 'Crystallization Controlled by the Geometry of a Surface'. AMER CHEMICAL SOC JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, 131 (48), pp. 17550-17551.doi: 10.1021/ja9085512
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(2009) 'Freezing in the bulk controlled by prefreezing at a surface'. AMER PHYSICAL SOC PHYSICAL REVIEW E, 80 (3) Article number ARTN 031605 Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/7404/
- . (2007) 'Nucleation at contact lines where fluid-fluid interfaces meet solid surfaces'. IOP PUBLISHING LTD JOURNAL OF PHYSICS-CONDENSED MATTER, 19 (46) Article number ARTN 466106
Journal articles
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(2012) 'The non-classical nucleation of crystals: Microscopic mechanisms and applications to molecular crystals, ice and calcium carbonate'. International Materials Reviews, 57 (6), pp. 328-356.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/738152/
Abstract
Crystals form via nucleation followed by growth. Often nucleation data are interpreted using the classical theory of nucleation, which is essentially a simple theory for the nucleation of a fluid phase. I characterise this classical theory as making six assumptions; I discuss each assumption in turn. I then review experiments and simulations that find nucleation behaviour that cannot be described by the classical theory. The experiments are on the crystallisation from solution of molecules such as drugs and related molecules, ice and calcium carbonate. The review also covers work on non-classical nucleation in solutions of the protein lysozyme, and work on the fascinating phenomenon of nucleation induced by laser pulses. I hope this review will be of interest to those studying the crystallisation of both molecules and ions from solution. The review aims to advance our understanding of the crucial first step in crystallisation, and to enable researchers studying crystallisation in one system to learn from what others have done in studying analogous phenomena in different systems. © 2012 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and ASM International.
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(2012) 'Computer simulation of soft matter at the growth front of a hard-matter phase: Incorporation of polymers, formation of transient pits and growth arrest'. Faraday Discussions, 159, pp. 263-276.doi: 10.1039/c2fd20044aFull text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/738151/
Abstract
Biominerals are typically composites of hard matter such as calcite, and soft matter such as proteins. There is currently considerable interest in how the soft matter component is incorporated into the hard matter component. This would typically be a protein that does not fold up into a single rigid domain but is closer to a simple polymer, being incorporated into a growing inorganic crystal in aqueous solution. Here I use computer simulation to study a very simple (2D lattice gas) model of a growing phase and a polymer. This allows me to study the microscopic dynamics of incorporation or rejection of a single polymer by the growing phase. It also allows me to look at how high concentrations of absorbing polymer can both arrest crystal growth, and change the shape of crystals. I find that the incorporation of a single polymer into the growing phase is due to slow dynamics of the polymer at the growth front. These slow dynamics are then unable to keep up with the advancing growth front. This is an intrinsically far-from-equilibrium process and so occurs even when incorporation is thermodynamically highly unfavourable. During the incorporation process, large polymers create large and deep, but transient, pits in the growth front. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2012.
- . (2012) 'Non-self-averaging nucleation rate due to quenched disorder'. IOP PUBLISHING LTD JOURNAL OF PHYSICS-CONDENSED MATTER, 24 (5) Article number ARTN 052205
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(2011) 'Aligned, isotropic and patterned carbon nanotube substrates that control the growth and alignment of Chinese hamster ovary cells.'. Institute of Physics Nanotechnology, England: 22 (20)Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/7606/
Abstract
Here we culture Chinese hamster ovary cells on isotropic, aligned and patterned substrates based on multiwall carbon nanotubes. The nanotubes provide the substrate with nanoscale topography. The cells adhere to and grow on all substrates, and on the aligned substrate, the cells align strongly with the axis of the bundles of the multiwall nanotubes. This control over cell alignment is required for tissue engineering; almost all tissues consist of oriented cells. The aligned substrates are made using straightforward physical chemistry techniques from forests of multiwall nanotubes; no lithography is required to make inexpensive large-scale substrates with highly aligned nanoscale grooves. Interestingly, although the cells strongly align with the nanoscale grooves, only a few also elongate along this axis: alignment of the cells does not require a pronounced change in morphology of the cell. We also pattern the nanotube bundles over length scales comparable to the cell size and show that the cells follow this pattern.
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(2011) 'Studying Smad2 intranuclear diffusion dynamics by mathematical modelling of FRAP experiments.'. RSC Publishing Integr Biol (Camb), England: 3 (3), pp. 197-207.doi: 10.1039/c0ib00098a
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(2011) 'Crystal nucleation: In a tight corner.'. Nat Mater, England: 10 (11), pp. 809-810.doi: 10.1038/nmat3157
- . (2010) 'Cell patterning and alignment on nanostructured isotropic and anisotropic carbon nanotubes substrates'. European Cells and Materials, 20 (SUPPL.3), pp. 39-39.
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(2010) 'Design Principles for Broad-Spectrum Protein-Crystal Nucleants with Nanoscale Pits'. AMER PHYSICAL SOC PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 105 (20) Article number ARTN 205501 Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/7328/
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(2010) 'Cell adhesion on nanopatterned fibronectin substrates'. ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY SOFT MATTER, 6 (21), pp. 5408-5416.doi: 10.1039/c0sm00201aFull text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/7160/
- . (2010) 'Colloid-Assisted Self-Assembly of Robust, Three-Dimensional Networks of Carbon Nanotubes over Large Areas'. WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH MACROMOLECULAR RAPID COMMUNICATIONS, 31 (7), pp. 609-615.
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(2010) 'Adhesion of microorganisms to bovine submaxillary mucin coatings: effect of coating deposition conditions'. TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD BIOFOULING, 26 (4), pp. 387-397.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/7163/
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(2009) 'Crystallization Controlled by the Geometry of a Surface'. AMER CHEMICAL SOC JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, 131 (48), pp. 17550-17551.doi: 10.1021/ja9085512
- .
(2009) 'Freezing in the bulk controlled by prefreezing at a surface'. AMER PHYSICAL SOC PHYSICAL REVIEW E, 80 (3) Article number ARTN 031605 Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/7404/
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(2009) 'Nucleation via an unstable intermediate phase'. AMER INST PHYSICS JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS, 131 (7) Article number ARTN 074702 doi: 10.1063/1.3205030Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/7607/
- . (2009) 'Statistical mechanics of convergent evolution in spatial patterning'. NATL ACAD SCIENCES PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 106 (24), pp. 9564-9569.
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(2009) 'Carbon-Nanotube-Based Materials for Protein Crystallization'. AMER CHEMICAL SOC ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES, 1 (6), pp. 1203-1210.doi: 10.1021/am9000858
- . (2008) 'MATERIALS SCIENCE Now You See Them'. AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE SCIENCE, 322 (5909), pp. 1802-1803.
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(2008) 'Two-step vapor-crystal nucleation close below triple point'. AMER INST PHYSICS JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS, 129 (20) Article number ARTN 204505 doi: 10.1063/1.3026364
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(2008) 'Continuity of the nucleation of bulk and surface phases'. AMER INST PHYSICS JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS, 129 (16) Article number ARTN 164510 doi: 10.1063/1.2992160Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/228/
- . (2008) 'Nucleation of a liquid on aerosol nanoparticles'. EDP SCIENCES EPL-EUROPHYS LETT, 83 (6) Article number 66002 , pp. 1-6.
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(2008) 'Nucleation in the presence of slow microscopic dynamics'. AMER INST PHYSICS JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS, 128 (21) Article number ARTN 214513 doi: 10.1063/1.2928844Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/341/
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(2008) 'Phase separation of equilibrium polymers of proteins in living cells'. ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY FARADAY DISCUSSIONS, 139, pp. 21-34.doi: 10.1039/b713076g
- . (2007) 'Nucleation at contact lines where fluid-fluid interfaces meet solid surfaces'. IOP PUBLISHING LTD JOURNAL OF PHYSICS-CONDENSED MATTER, 19 (46) Article number ARTN 466106
- . (2007) 'Influence of the colloidal stability of latex particles on their distribution in drying films'. AMER CHEMICAL SOC ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, 234
- . (2007) 'Nucleation: theory and applications to protein solutions and colloidal suspensions'. IOP PUBLISHING LTD JOURNAL OF PHYSICS-CONDENSED MATTER, 19 (3) Article number ARTN 033101
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(2007) 'Dishevelled: a protein that functions in living cells by phase separating'. ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY SOFT MATTER, 3 (6), pp. 680-684.doi: 10.1039/b618126k
- . (2006) 'Modeling dual pathways for the metazoan spindle assembly checkpoint'. NATL ACAD SCIENCES PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 103 (45), pp. 16758-16763.
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(2006) 'On the interpretation of quantitative experimental data on nucleation rates using classical nucleation theory'. AMER CHEMICAL SOC JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY B, 110 (43), pp. 21944-21949.doi: 10.1021/jp064692a
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(2006) 'Heterogeneous nucleation in and out of pores'. AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOC PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 97 (6) Article number ARTN 065701 Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/359/
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(2006) 'Observations of coarsening of air voids in a polymer-highly-soluble crystalline matrix during dissolution'. AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOC PHYSICAL REVIEW E, 74 (1) Article number ARTN 011504 Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/91/
- . (2006) 'Interactions in protein solutions'. ELSEVIER SCIENCE LONDON CURRENT OPINION IN COLLOID & INTERFACE SCIENCE, 11 (1), pp. 35-39.
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(2006) 'Heterogeneous and homogeneous nucleation compared: Rapid nucleation on microscopic impurities'. AMER CHEMICAL SOC JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY B, 110 (10), pp. 4985-4989.doi: 10.1021/jp056377e
- . (2006) 'Experiment and theory for heterogeneous nucleation of protein crystals in a porous medium'. NATL ACAD SCIENCES PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 103 (3), pp. 597-601.
- . (2005) 'Formation of a metastable phase due to the presence of impurities'. J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 17 (2005) 3997-4004.,
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(2004) 'A model for the accidental catalysis of protein unfolding in vivo'. EPL (Europhysics Letters),
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(2004) 'Statistical theory of nucleation in the presence of uncharacterised
impurities'. APS Physical Review E, 70 (2)Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/712465/
Abstract
First order phase transitions proceed via nucleation. The rate of nucleation varies exponentially with the free-energy barrier to nucleation, and so is highly sensitive to variations in this barrier. In practice, very few systems are absolutely pure, there are typically some impurities present which are rather poorly characterised. These interact with the nucleus, causing the barrier to vary, and so must be taken into account. Here the impurity-nucleus interactions are modelled by random variables. The rate then has the same form as the partition function of Derrida's Random Energy Model, and as in this model there is a regime in which the behaviour is non-self-averaging. Non-self-averaging nucleation is nucleation with a rate that varies significantly from one realisation of the random variables to another. In experiment this corresponds to variation in the nucleation rate from one sample to another. General analytic expressions are obtained for the crossover from a self-averaging to a non-self-averaging rate of nucleation.
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(2003) 'Specific protein-protein binding in many-component mixtures of proteins'. Physical Biology, 1 (2 (2004))Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/712461/
Abstract
Proteins must bind to specific other proteins in vivo in order to function. The proteins must bind only to one or a few other proteins of the of order a thousand proteins typically present in vivo. Using a simple model of a protein, specific binding in many component mixtures is studied. It is found to be a demanding function in the sense that it demands that the binding sites of the proteins be encoded by long sequences of bits, and the requirement for specific binding then strongly constrains these sequences. This is quantified by the capacity of proteins of a given size (sequence length), which is the maximum number of specific-binding interactions possible in a mixture. This calculation of the maximum number possible is in the same spirit as the work of Shannon and others on the maximum rate of communication through noisy channels.
- . (2003) 'Instabilities in complex mixtures with a large number of components'. Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 245701 (2003),
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(2003) 'Solution stability, neutral evolution and variability in a simple model
of globular proteins'. Journal of Chemical Physics, 120 (2)doi: 10.1063/1.1631918
- . (2003) 'Protein crystals and charged surfaces: interactions and heterogeneous nucleation'. Physical Review E 67, 061907 (2003),
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(2002) 'The effects of added salt on the second virial coefficients of the
complete proteome of E. coli'. AIP Journal of Chemical Physics, 118 (11), pp. 5157-5161.doi: 10.1063/1.1544556Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/712470/
Abstract
Bacteria typically have a few thousand different proteins. The number of proteins with a given charge is a roughly Gaussian function of charge - centred near zero, and with a width around ten (in units of the charge on the proton). We have used the charges on E. coli's proteins to estimate the changes in the second virial coefficients of all its proteins as the concentration of a 1:1 salt is increased. The second virial coefficient has dimensions of volume and we find that on average it decreases by about twice the average volume of a protein when the salt concentration is increased from 0.2 to 1 Molar. The standard deviation of the decrease is of the same order. The consequences of this for the complex mixture of proteins inside an E. coli cell, are briefly discussed.
- . (2002) 'Distribution of the second virial coefficients of globular proteins'. Europhysics Letters 60, 938-944 (2002),
- . (2002) 'Flory-Huggins theory for athermal mixtures of hard spheres and larger flexible polymers'. Physical Review E 66, 051401 (2002),
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(2002) 'On the electrical double layer contribution to the interfacial tension
of protein crystals'. Journal of Chemical Physics, doi: 10.1063/1.1510765
[ Status: Unpublished ] - . (2002) 'Interfacial tension and nucleation in mixtures of colloids and long ideal polymer coils'. Physical Review E 65, 062401 (2002),
- . (2002) 'Heterogeneous nucleation near a metastable vapour-liquid transition: the effect of wetting transitions'. J. Physics: Condensed Matter 14, 3693-3703 (2002),
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(2001) 'Homogeneous nucleation near a second phase transition and Ostwald's step
rule'. J. Chemical Physics 116, 5066-5072 (2002), doi: 10.1063/1.1452108
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(2001) 'Scaling theory for the free-energy barrier to homogeneous nucleation of
a non-critical phase near a critical point'. AIP Journal of Chemical Physics, 116 (7), pp. 2922-2927.doi: 10.1063/1.1436477Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/712471/
Abstract
Homogeneous nucleation of a new phase near an Ising-like critical point of another phase transition is studied. A scaling analysis shows that the free energy barrier to nucleation contains a singular term with the same scaling as the order parameter associated with the critical point. The total magnetisation of the nucleus scales as the response function and so it diverges. Vapour-liquid critical points are in the Ising universality class and so our results imply that near such a critical point the number of molecules in a nucleus of a another phase, such as a crystalline phase, diverges as the isothermal compressibility. The case where symmetry prevents coupling between the nucleus and the order parameter is also considered.
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(2001) 'Nucleation of the crystalline phase of proteins in the presence of
semidilute non-adsorbing polymer'. Journal of Chemical Physics, doi: 10.1063/1.1376163
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(2001) 'Homogeneous nucleation of a non-critical phase near a continuous phase
transition'. Physical Review E: Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics, 63 (6)Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/712466/
Abstract
Homogeneous nucleation of a new phase near a second, continuous, transition, is considered. The continuous transition is in the metastable region associated with the first-order phase transition, one of whose coexisting phases is nucleating. Mean-field calculations show that as the continuous transition is approached, the size of the nucleus varies as the response function of the order parameter of the continuous transition. This response function diverges at the continuous transition, as does the temperature derivative of the free energy barrier to nucleation. This rapid drop of the barrier as the continuous transition is approached means that the continuous transition acts to reduce the barrier to nucleation at the first-order transition. This may be useful in the crystallisation of globular proteins.
- . (2000) 'Phase separation in mixtures of colloids and long ideal polymer coils'. Physical Review Letters v86 4696-4699 (2001),
- . (2000) 'What do emulsification failure and Bose-Einstein condensation have in common?'. Europhys. Lett. 55, 451 (2001),
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(2000) 'Nucleation of a non-critical phase in a fluid near a critical point'. Journal of Chemical Physics v114 3170-3173 (2001), doi: 10.1063/1.1340582
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(2000) 'Molecular dynamics of a dense fluid of polydisperse hard spheres'. Journal of Chemical Physics v113 p4732-4739 (2000), doi: 10.1063/1.1288804
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(2000) 'Phase behaviour of a model of colloidal particles with a fluctuating
internal state'. Physical Review E, 62 (2), pp. 2501-2509.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/712467/
Abstract
Colloidal particles are not simple rigid particles, in general an isolated particle is a system with many degrees of freedom in its own right, e.g., the counterions around a charged colloidal particle.The behaviour of model colloidal particles, with a simple phenomenological model to account for these degrees of freedom, is studied. It is found that the interaction between the particles is not pairwise additive. It is even possible that the interaction between a triplet of particles is attractive while the pair interaction is repulsive. When this is so the liquid phase is either stable only in a small region of the phase diagram or absent altogether.
- . (1999) 'Metastability and nucleation in the dilute fluid phase of a simple model of globular proteins'.
- . (1999) 'Fluid-fluid transitions of hard spheres with a very short-range attraction'. Physical Review E v61 p6019-6022 (2000),
- . (1999) 'Absence of the liquid phase when the attraction is not pairwise additive'. Physical Review E 61, p651-655 (2000),
- . (1999) 'Surface flattening of thermosetting powder coatings: Theory and experiment.'. AMER CHEMICAL SOC ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, 218, pp. U626-U626.
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(1999) 'The low temperature interface between the gas and solid phases of hard
spheres with a short-ranged attraction'. APS Physical Review E, 59 (6), pp. 6838-6841.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/712464/
Abstract
At low temperature, spheres with a very short-ranged attraction exist as a close-packed solid coexisting with an infinitely dilute gas. We find that the ratio of the interfacial tension between these two phases to the thermal energy diverges as the range of the attraction goes to zero. The large tensions when the interparticle attractions are short-ranged may be why globular proteins only crystallise over a narrow range of conditions.
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(1999) 'Depletion induced demixing in polydisperse mixtures of hard spheres'. American Physical Society Physical Review Letters, 82 (21), pp. 4244-4247.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/712463/
Abstract
Polydisperse mixtures are those in which components with a whole range of sizes are present. It is shown that the fluid phase of polydisperse hard spheres is thermodynamically unstable unless the density of large spheres decreases at least exponentially as their size increases. The instability is with respect to the large spheres crystallising out into multiple solid phases.
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(1999) 'Phase behaviour of a simple model of globular proteins'. Journal of Chemical Physics v111 p4800-4806 (1999), doi: 10.1063/1.479243
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(1999) 'Classical nucleation theory for the nucleation of the solid phase of
spherical particles with a short-ranged attraction'. Journal of Chemical Physics v111, p2001-2007 (1999), doi: 10.1063/1.479512
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(1999) 'Adsorption of polydisperse polymer chains'. AIP Journal of Chemical Physics, 111 (5), pp. 2255-2258.doi: 10.1063/1.479496Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/712469/
Abstract
The adsorption of polydisperse ideal polymer chains is shown to be sensitive to the large N tail of the distribution of chains. If and only if the number of chains decays more slowly than exponentially then there is an adsorption transition like that of monodisperse infinite chains. If the number decays exponentially the adsorption density diverges continuously at a temperature which is a function of the mean chain length. At low coverages, chains with repulsive monomer--monomer interactions show the same qualitative behaviour
- . (1998) 'Phase separation and crystallisation of polydisperse hard spheres'. Europhysics Letters 44, 531-535 (1998),
- . (1998) 'The stability limit of polydisperse sticky hard spheres'.
- . (1997) 'Scattering from small colloidal particles in a semidilute polymer solution'. European Physical Journal B v1 313-317 (1998),
- . (1997) 'A coil-globule transition of a semiflexible polymer driven by the addition of spherical particles'. Phys.Rev. E58 (1998) 724-728,
- . (1997) 'Polymer induced phase coexistence in systems of lamellar phases'.
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(1997) 'Depletion driven adsorption of colloidal rods onto a hard wall'. Physical Review E,
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(1997) 'Theory for polymer coils with necklaces of micelles'. IOP Journal of Physics:Condensed Matter, 10 (7), pp. 1677-1686.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/712468/
Abstract
If many micelles adsorb onto the same polymer molecule then they are said to form a necklace. A minimal model of such a necklace is proposed and shown to be almost equivalent to a 1-dimensional fluid with nearest-neighbour interactions. The thermodynamic functions of this fluid are obtained and then used to predict the change in the critical micellar concentration of the surfactant in the presence of the polymer. If the amount of polymer is not too large there are two critical micellar concentrations, one for micelles in necklaces and one for free micelles.
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(1997) 'The coil-globule transition of polymers of long rigid monomers connected
by flexible spacers'. Journal of Chemical Physics, doi: 10.1063/1.474987
[ Status: Unpublished ]
Conference papers
- . (2005) 'The cytoplasm of living cells: a functional mixture of thousands of components'. IOP PUBLISHING LTD JOURNAL OF PHYSICS-CONDENSED MATTER, Utrecht, NETHERLANDS: 6th Liquid Matter Conference 17 (45), pp. S3587-S3595.
Teaching
I teach on the Department's undergraduate degrees, mostly statistical physics and maths courses. See my homepage for webpages for the courses I teach.Departmental Duties
I am on the Department's marketing group, and represent the Department on the Faculty's marketing committee. I am also the Department's library rep.My marketing responsibilities include overall responsibility for the Department's website and blog.