Publications by Esther Amstad | EPFL Graph Search

Related publications (100)

Reversible and Broad-Range Oxygen Sensing Based on Purely Organic Long-Lived Photoemitters

The detection of oxygen (O-2) by optical sensors is of growing importance, for example, in biology, life science, environmental science, and aerodynamics, where the composition of gases is crucial for many applications. Purely organic optical O-2 sensors a ...

2021

Influence of Sphericity on Surface Termination of Icosahedral Colloidal Clusters

Esther Amstad

Colloids self-organize into icosahedral clusters composed of a Mackay core and an anti-Mackay shell under spherical confinement to minimize the free energy. This study explores the variation of surface arrangements of colloids in icosahedral clusters, focu ...

Wiley-V C H Verlag Gmbh2023

Extraction and Surfactant Properties of Glyoxylic Acid-Functionalized Lignin

Monique Bernardes Figueirêdo, Esther Amstad, Jeremy Luterbacher, Stefania Bertella, Gaia De Angelis, Claire Laura Marion Charline Bourmaud

The amphiphilic chemical structure of native lignin, composed by a hydrophobic aromatic core and hydrophilic hydroxy groups, makes it a promising alternative for the development of bio-based surface-active compounds. However, the severe conditions traditio ...

2022

Additive Manufacturing of Porous Biominerals

Esther Amstad, Matteo Hirsch, Gaia De Angelis, Ran Zhao, Tianyu Yuan

Nature fabricates hard functional materials from soft organic scaffolds that are mineralized. To enable an energy-efficient locomotion of these creatures while maintaining their structural stability, nature often renders parts of these minerals porous. Unf ...

WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH2023

Controlling the calcium carbonate microstructure of engineered living building materials

Lyesse Laloui, Esther Amstad, Hannes Markus Peter, Dimitrios Terzis, Matteo Hirsch, Lorenzo Lucherini, Alexandra Clarà Saracho

The fabrication of responsive soft materials that enable the controlled release of microbial induced calcium carbonate (CaCO3) precipitation (MICP) would be highly desirable for the creation of living materials that can be used, for example, as self-healin ...

Royal Society of Chemistry2021

Influence of Fluorinated Surfactant Composition on the Stability of Emulsion Drops

Esther Amstad, Gianluca Nicolas Etienne, Michael David Kessler

Aqueous drops of a well-defined size are often used as small containers for conducting chemical and biochemical reactions, cell assays and as templates to produce microparticles. To prevent their coalescence, they must be stabilized, for example, using sur ...

Wiley-Blackwell2016

Shear Stress-Responsive Polymersome Nanoreactors Inspired by the Marine Bioluminescence of Dinoflagellates

Esther Amstad, Antoine Claude Jean Vian

Some marine plankton called dinoflagellates emit light in response to the movement of surrounding water, resulting in a phenomenon called milky seas or sea sparkle. The underlying concept, a shear-stress induced permeabilisation of biocatalytic reaction co ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH2021

Integrated Conversion of Lignocellulosic Biomass to Bio-Based Amphiphiles using a Functionalization-Defunctionalization Approach

Esther Amstad, Jeremy Luterbacher, Stefania Bertella, Songlan Sun, Gaia De Angelis, Marie Jane Francine Jones, Graham Reid Dick

Concerns over the sustainability and end-of-life properties of fossil-derived surfactants have driven interest in bio-based alternatives. Lignocellulosic biomass with its polar functional groups is an obvious feedstock for surfactant production but its use ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH2023

3D printing of living structural biocomposites

Esther Amstad, Matteo Hirsch, Ran Zhao, Lorenzo Lucherini

Nature fabricates organic/inorganic composites under benign conditions, yet, in many cases, their mechanical properties exceed those of the individual building components it is made from. The secret behind the evolutionary pivot is the unique ability of na ...

ELSEVIER SCI LTD2023

Shape retaining self-healing metal-coordinated hydrogels

Esther Amstad, Raffaele Mezzenga, Alvaro Lino Boris Charlet

Metal-coordinated hydrogels are physical hydrogels entirely crosslinked by complexes between ligand decorated polymers and metal ions. The mechanical properties of these hydrogels strongly depend on the density and dynamics of metal-coordinated interaction ...

2021

Direct laser writing of electronically conductive microstructures within soft hydrogel substrates

Veronica Navello, Stéphanie Lacour, Esther Amstad, Outman Akouissi, Lorenzo Lucherini

Hydrogels have emerged as promising materials for bioelectronic interfaces due to their tissue-like properties and high-water content. However, conventional hydrogels often suffer from poor electrical conductivity and mechanical stability, limiting their p ...

2025

Additives: Their Influence on the Humidity- and Pressure-Induced Crystallization of Amorphous CaCO3

Esther Amstad, Huachuan Du, Mathias Steinacher

Nature possesses a unique control over the formation of CaCO3 crystals that imparts fascinating mechanical properties to many CaCO3-based biomaterials. This high level of control is, at least in part, achieved through the use of certain soluble additives t ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2020

Selectively Permeable Double Emulsions

Esther Amstad, Irvine Lian Hao Ong

Natural organisms are made of different types of microcompartments, many of which are enclosed by cell membranes. For these organisms to display a proper function, the microcompartments must be selectively permeable. For example, cell membranes are typical ...

2019

Microfluidic fabrication of vesicles with hybrid lipid/nanoparticle bilayer membranes

Esther Amstad

Hybrid lipid/nanoparticle membranes are suitable model systems both to study the complex interactions between nanoparticles and biological membranes, and to demonstrate technological concepts in cellular sensing and drug delivery. Unfortunately, embedding ...

ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY2019

3D Printing of Stiff Photonic Microparticles into Load-Bearing Structures

Paul Louison Nathan Hardivillé, Esther Amstad, Pauline Camille Charlotte Pradal

Structural colors are bright and possess a remarkable resistance to light exposure, humidity, and temperature such that they constitute an environmentally friendly alternative to chemical pigments. Unfortunately, upscaling the production of photonic struct ...

2025

Rapid Production of Submicron Drug Substance Particles by Supersonic Spray Drying

Esther Amstad

Many newly developed active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are poorly soluble in water and thus have a dissolution-limited bioavailability. The bioavailability of Biopharmaceutical Classification System (BCS) class II APIs increases if they dissolve fas ...

Amer Chemical Soc2017

Bioprinting of piezoresistive organohydrogel networks for advanced real-time mechanosensing in engineered tissue models

Esther Amstad

Understanding biomechanics in 3D cell culture is key to advancing tissue engineering, yet integrating real-time sensing into soft tissues remains a challenge. We developed a stretchable, piezoresistive hydrogel by combining PEDOT:PSS with a polyvinyl alcoh ...

2025

From Surfactants to Viscoelastic Capsules

Esther Amstad, Gaia De Angelis

Micrometer sized capsules are often used as single entities for the encapsulation and release of active ingredients, for example in food, cosmetics, and drug delivery. Important parameters that determine the stability of capsules and the release of reagent ...

WILEY2023

Mechanical reinforcement of granular hydrogels

Esther Amstad, Alvaro Lino Boris Charlet, Francesca Bono

Granular hydrogels are composed of hydrogel-based microparticles, so-called microgels, that are densely packed to form an ink that can be 3D printed, injected or cast into macroscopic structures. They are frequently used as tissue engineering scaffolds bec ...

ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY2022

Temperature-induced liquid crystal microdroplet formation in a partially miscible liquid mixture

Esther Amstad

Liquid-in-liquid droplets are typically generated by the partitioning of immiscible fluids, e.g. by mechanical shearing with macroscopic homogenisers or microfluidic flow focussing. In contrast, partially miscible liquids with a critical solution temperatu ...

ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY2021