Alberto Scacchi (University of Turku) – A multiscale theoretical perspective on partitioning and phase separation in polymeric mixtures
- Date
- @ MALL, 13:00
- Location
- MALL
- Speaker
- Alberto Scacchi
- Affiliation
- University of Turku
Partitioning of (bio)materials in polymeric mixtures is a fundamental process, relevant from the organization of cellular environments to industrial separation technologies. In cells, macromolecules often localize within coexisting biomolecular phases, while in industry, polymer–polymer aqueous systems are widely used for the extraction and purification of (bio)materials. Yet, the underlying physical and chemical factors that control this phase behavior remain poorly understood.
In this work [1], we develop a classical density functional theory (DFT) framework to describe phase coexistence and partitioning in mixtures containing multiple polymers and suspended components. As a model case, we study a binary polymer mixture undergoing phase separation with a third dispersed material, and explore how size ratios, concentrations, and interaction affinities determine its spatial distribution and coexisting densities.
Our DFT predictions are benchmarked against coarse-grained Brownian dynamics simulations, previously introduced to model the magnetic response of ferrofluidic aqueous two-phase systems [2]. Together, these approaches provide a coherent microscopic understanding of partitioning in complex soft-matter systems.
[1] V. A. Varma & A. Scacchi, "General approach for partitioning and phase separation in macromolecular coexisting phases", arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.14392, (2025).
[2] A. Scacchi, C. Rigoni, M. Haataja, J. V. I. Timonen, M. Sammalkorpi, "A corase-grained model for aqueous two-phase systems: Application to ferrofluids", Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 686, (2025).