Drying of Complex Suspensions

Lei Xu, Alexis Berges, Peter J. Lu, Andre R. Studart, Andrew B. Schofield, Hidekazu Oki, Simon Davies, David A. Weitz

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

We investigate the 3D structure and drying dynamics of complex mixtures of emulsion droplets and colloidal particles, using confocal microscopy. Air invades and rapidly collapses large emulsion droplets, forcing their contents into the surrounding porous particle pack at a rate proportional to the square of the droplet radius. By contrast, small droplets do not collapse, but remain intact and are merely deformed. A simple model coupling the Laplace pressure to Darcy's law correctly estimates both the threshold radius separating these two behaviors, and the rate of large-droplet evacuation. Finally, we use these systems to make novel hierarchical structures.

Original languageEnglish
Article number128303
Pages (from-to)-
Number of pages4
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume104
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26 Mar 2010

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • PARTICLES

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