Agarose is known to form a homogeneous thermoreversible gel in an aqueous medium over a critical polymer concentration. The solid-liquid phase transitions are thermoreversible but depend on the molecular structure of the agarose sample tested. The literature has mentioned that agarose gels could remain stable in non-solvents such as acetone or ethanol. However, there has been no characterization of their behavior nor a comparison with the gels formed in a good solvent such as water. In the first step of this article, the structure was characterized using ¹H and ¹³C NMR in both D₂O and DMSO-d6 solvents. DMSO is a solvent that dissolves agarose regardless of the temperature. First, we have determined a low yield of methyl substitution on the D-galactose unit. Then, the evolution of the ¹H NMR spectrum was monitored as a function of temperature during both increasing and decreasing temperature processes, ranging from 25 to 80 °C. A large thermal hysteresis was obtained and discussed, which aided in the interpretation of rheological behavior. The hysteresis of NMR signals is related to the mobility of the agarose chains, which follows the sol/gel transition depending on the chains’ association with H-bonds between water and the -OH groups of agarose for tightly bound water and agarose/agarose in chain packing. In the second step of the study, the water in the agarose gel was exchanged with ethanol, which is a non-solvent for agarose. The resulting gel was stable, and its properties were characterized using rheology and compared to its behavior in aqueous media. The bound water molecules that act as plasticizers were likely removed during the exchange process, resulting in a stronger and more brittle gel in ethanol, with higher thermal stability compared to the aqueous gel. It is the first time that such gel is characterized without phase transition when passing from a good solvent to a non-solvent. This extends the domains of application of agarose.

In this work, the influence of nozzle shape on microfluidic ink jet breakup is investigated. First, an industrial ink used in continuous inkjet (CIJ) printing devices is selected. Ink rheological properties are measured to ensure an apparent Newtonian behavior and a constant surface tension. Then, breakup lengths and shapes are observed on a wide range of disturbance amplitude for four different nozzles. Later on, ink breakup behaviors are compared to the linear theory. Finally, these results are discussed using numerical simulations to highlight the influence of the velocity profiles at the nozzle outlet. Using such computations, a simple approach is derived to accurately predict the breakup length for industrial CIJ nozzles.

Agarose forms a homogeneous thermoreversible gel in an aqueous solvent above a critical polymer concentration. Contrary to the prevailing consensus, recent confirmations indicate that agarose gels are also stable in non-solvents like acetone and ethanol. A previous study compared gel characterisations and behaviours in water and ethanol, discussing the gelation mechanism. In the current work, the ethanol gel is exchanged with water to explore the potential reversibility of the displacement of water in agarose. Initially, the structure is characterised using ¹H NMR in DMSO-d₆ and D₂O solvents. Subsequently, a very low yield (0.04) of methyl substitution per agarobiose unit is determined. The different gels after stabilisation are characterised using rheology, and their physical properties are compared based on the solvent used. The bound water molecules, acting as plasticizers in aqueous medium, are likely removed during the exchange process with ethanol, resulting in a stronger and more fragile gel. Next, the gel obtained after the second exchange from ethanol back to water is compared with the initial gel prepared in water. This is the first time where such gel has been characterised without undergoing a phase transition when switching from a good solvent to a non-solvent, and vice versa, thereby testing the reversibility of the solvent exchange. Reversibility of this behaviour is demonstrated through swelling and rheology experiments. This study extends the application of agarose in chromatography and electrophoresis.

Previous investigations were conducted on two concentrations of DNA solution: 4 mg/mL, for which it has been shown that no supramolecular organization is induced under flow at low shear rates; and 10 mg/mL, in which a liquid crystalline-type texture is formed under flow at low shear rates, attesting to an orientation of pre-organized chains. Rheological experiments are discussed and their results supported by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and flow birefringence visualization experiments. Scattering from polyelectrolytes has a characteristic signal, which is here observed in SAXS, showing a strong correlation peak between charged chains in water, for both concentrations. This peak is weaker in the presence of 0.01 M NaCl and suppressed in salt excess at 0.1 M NaCl. No plateau in the σ( $\dot{\gamma }$ ) plot was observed in analysis of rheological experiments on low DNA concentration (4 mg/mL). As typically observed in polyelectrolyte systems both the dynamic moduli and shear viscosity were higher in water as electrostatic forces dominate, than in the presence of salt, especially at low shear rates. The rheological results for concentrations of 0.01 M NaCl are lower than in water as expected due to partial screening of electrostatic repulsions. Rheological data for concentrations of 0.1 M NaCl are unexpected. Electrostatic forces are partially screened in the low salt concentration, leading to a drop in the rheological values. For high salt concentration there are no longer interchain repulsions and so steric interactions dominate within the entangled network leading to the subsequent increase in rheological parameters. Regardless of the solvent, at high shear rates the solutions are birefringent. In the 10 mg/mL case, under flow, textures are formed at relatively low shear rate before all the chains align going to a pseudonematic liquid crystalline phase at high shear rate. The electrostatic repulsion between semi-rigid chains induces a correlation between the chains leading to an electrostatic pseudo-gel in water and loosely in 0.01 M NaCl at low stress applied. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that such behavior is observed. In 0.1 M NaCl, DNA behavior resembles the corresponding neutral polymer as expected for polyelectrolyte in salt excess, exhibiting a yield stress. When texture appears in water and in 0.01 M NaCl, a critical transition is observed in rheological curves, where the viscosity decreases sharply at a given critical shear stress corresponding to a plateau in the σ( $\dot{\gamma }$ ) plot also observed in creep transient experiment.