Dynamics of Soft Matter in Increasingly Complex Environments

Recent advancements in the understanding of the dynamics of soft matter is presented, concentrating on polymer melts with some outlook on semiconducting polymers and lipid membranes in solution. Traditionally, techniques like rheology are very popular, as these enable high-throughput experiments that help connect model materials with applications. Despite substantial progress, even the simplest model materials are not entirely understood, at least when it comes to a simultaneous modeling of experimental results from different techniques. This indicates that there is still a lack of information that prevents holistic understanding. This presentation concentrates on augmented analysis of recent experimental results on bottlebrush polymer melts, semiconducting polymers in solutions, and lipid membranes. Using the advantage of length- and time-scale dependent information of neutron spectroscopy, we distinguish different processes in polymer melts, nanocomposites, bottlebrushes, semiconducting polymers, and lipid membranes. As the results point to a generic picture, the procedures used appear to be a promising path to further elevate fundamental understanding of polymers, including confined chains and architectures of increasing complexity.