Dynamical and rheological properties of soft colloid suspensions

Soft colloids comprise a wide class of materials, ranging from linear polymers over polymeric assemblies, such as star polymers and dendrimers, to vesicles, capsules, and even cells. Suspensions of such colloids exhibit remarkable responses to imposed flow fields. This is related to their ability to undergo conformational changes and elastic deformations, and the adaptation of their dynamical behavior. The rational design of soft particles for targeted applications or the unraveling of their biological function requires an understanding of the relation between their microscopic properties and their macroscopic response. Here, mesoscale computer simulations provide an invaluable tool to tackle the broad range of length and time scales. In this article, we discuss recent theoretical and simulation results on the rheological behavior of ultrasoft polymeric colloids, vesicles, capsules, and cells. The properties of both, individual particles and semi-dilute suspensions, are addressed. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.