Figure 7
Collapse kinetics. Radius of gyration Rg as a function of time for a loose microgel (Z = 25σ) for χeff = 1.1 (a.I) and 0.7 (a.II) for implicit (Vα, full line), DPD (dotted lines) and MD solvents (dashed lines); (b) cluster size distribution n(s) for Rg = 14.9 (indicated as III in a.I) for implicit and DPD solvents. In order to improve statistics data are averaged over six different microgels configurations. The inset reports the number of clusters (black circles) and their average size (red squares) as a function of the collapsing time; (c.I-III) simulation snapshots for state points I-III (circles in a.I). Clusters are highlighted by different colors according to their size Nc (as indicated in the color bar). Light grey monomers are either found in small clusters (Nc < 10) or belong to the main network (Nc > 100).
