Interactions between Nanofibers in Fiber-Surfactant Suspensions: Theory of Corresponding Distances

We present the theory of corresponding distances for interactions mediated by soft nanostructures in fibrous materials. Based on the fundamental understanding of the mechanism that determines the internal structure of the soft component, our theory allows us to predict the entire force field mediated by the soft component for any angle and distance between the fibers from a single simulation or a single experiment. This replaces hundreds of simulations by just one which enables the routine computation of complete fiber-soft-fiber force fields by high-level methods, such as atomistic simulations, and thereby amounts to a true step advancement for soft nanotechnology. © 2014 American Physical Society.