Supramolecular polymers are known to form strong and resilient gels which can uptake large amounts of solvent while exhibiting ease of processing and self-healing. Despite their widespread applicability, a fundamental understanding of their rheological behavior that would allow for a-la-carte molecular design is missing. Our collaborative efforts to contribute in this direction are based on the use of well-characterized systems and targeted experiments with support from simulations to address specific questions. In this presentation we shall present experimental results from the last five years, focusing on (i) the tunable viscoelasticity of binary hydrogels that is characterized by a non-monotonic composition dependence, (ii) the much overlooked role of humidity on the linear and nonlinear rheology of organogels, and (iii) the effects of external pressure on the structure and rheology of supramolecular organogels from different motifs.
Work in collaboration with E. Vereroudakis, N. Burger, A. Louhichi, B. Loppinet (Crete), L. Boutellier (Paris), E. J. Meijer (Eindhoven), N. van Zee (Paris), E. Del Gado (Georgetown).