Marangoni circulation in evaporating droplets in the presence of soluble surfactants

Modifying the interfacial dynamics of oleosome (lipid droplet) membrane using curcumin

Cells store energy in lipid droplets, known as oleosomes, which have a neutral lipid core surrounded by a dilatable membrane of phospholipids and proteins. Oleosomes can be loaded with therapeutic lipophilic cargos through their permeable membrane and used as carriers. However, the cargo can also adsorb between the phospholipids and affect the membrane properties. In the present work, we investigated the effect of adsorbed curcumin on the mechanical properties of oleosome membranes using dilatational interfacial rheology (LAOD). The oleosome membrane had a weak-stretchable behavior, while the adsorption of curcumin led to stronger in-plane interactions, which were dependent on curcumin concentration and indicated a glassy-like structure. Our findings showed that adsorbed curcumin molecules can enhance the molecular interactions on the oleosome membrane. This behavior suggests that oleosomes membranes can be modulated by loaded cargo. Understanding cargo and membrane interactions can help to design oleosome-based formulations with tailored mechanical properties for applications.

Kinetic monitoring of molecular interactions during surfactant-driven self-propelled droplet motion by high spatial resolution waveguide sensing

HYPOTHESIS

Self-driven actions, like motion, are fundamental characteristics of life. Today, intense research focuses on the kinetics of droplet motion. Quantifying macroscopic motion and exploring the underlying mechanisms are crucial in self-structuring and self-healing materials, advancements in soft robotics, innovations in self-cleaning environmental processes, and progress within the pharmaceutical industry. Usually, the driving forces inducing macroscopic motion act at the molecular scale, making their real-time and high-resolution investigation challenging. Label-free surface sensitive measurements with high lateral resolution could in situ measure both molecular-scale interactions and microscopic motion.

EXPERIMENTS

We employ surface-sensitive label-free sensors to investigate the kinetic changes in a self-assembled monolayer of the trimethyl(octadecyl)azanium chloride surfactant on a substrate surface during the self-propelled motion of nitrobenzene droplets. The adsorption-desorption of the surfactant at various concentrations, its removal due to the moving organic droplet, and rebuilding mechanisms at droplet-visited areas are all investigated with excellent time, spatial, and surface mass density resolution.

FINDINGS

We discovered concentration dependent velocity fluctuations, estimated the adsorbed amount of surfactant molecules, and revealed multilayer coverage at high concentrations. The desorption rate of surfactant (18.4 s-1) during the microscopic motion of oil droplets was determined by in situ differentiating between droplet visited and non-visited areas.

Evaporative self-assembly in colloidal droplets: Emergence of ordered structures from complex fluids

Colloidal droplet evaporation is an intriguing and intricate phenomenon that has captured the interest of scientists across diverse disciplines, including physical chemistry, fluid dynamics, and soft matter science, over the past two decades. Despite being a non-equilibrium system with inherent challenges posed by coffee ring formation and Marangoni effects, which hinder the precise control of deposition patterns, evaporative self-assembly presents a convenient and cost-effective approach for generating arrays of well-ordered structures and functional patterns with wide-ranging applications in inkjet printing, photonic crystals, and biochemical assays. In the realm of printed electronics and photonics, effectively mitigating coffee rings while achieving uniformity and orderliness has emerged as a critical factor in realising the next generation of large-area, low-cost, flexible devices that are exceptionally sensitive and high-performance. This review highlights the evaporative self-assembly process in colloidal droplets with a focus on the intricate mechanical environment, self-assembly at diverse interfaces, and potential applications of these assembling ordered structures.

Intricate Evaporation Dynamics in Different Multidroplet Configurations

We experimentally investigate the evaporation dynamics of an array of sessile droplets arranged in different configurations. Utilizing a customized goniometer, we capture side and top view profiles to monitor the evolution of height, spread, contact angle, and volume of the droplets. Our results reveal that the lifetime of a droplet array surpasses that of an isolated droplet, attributed to the shielding effect induced by neighboring droplets, which elevates the local vapor concentration, thereby reducing the evaporation rate. We found that lifetime increases as droplet separation distance decreases at a fixed configuration and substrate temperature. It is observed that the lifetimes increase with the number of droplets. We observe a decrease in lifetimes, following a power law trend, with increasing substrate temperature, with the shielding effect diminishing at higher substrate temperatures due to natural convective effects. We also observe a generalized behavior for the centrally placed droplet across various separation distances and substrate temperatures. This arises from different droplet configurations and substrate temperatures, which modify the local vapor concentration around the droplets without significantly impacting the contact line dynamics. Additionally, the experimental results are compared with a diffusion-based theoretical model that incorporates the evaporative cooling effect to predict the lifetime of the central droplet within the array. We observe that the theoretical model satisfactorily predicts the lifetime of the droplet at room temperature. However, for high-temperature cases, the model slightly overpredicts the evaporative lifetimes.

Characterizing the Microparticles Deposition Structure and its Photonic Nature in Surfactant-Laden Evaporating Colloidal Sessile Droplets

This work presents a simple method to create photonic microstructures via the natural evaporation of surfactant-laden colloidal sessile droplets on a flat substrate. In the absence of dissolved surfactant, the evaporating colloidal droplet forms a well-known coffee ring deposition. In contrast, the presence of surfactant leads to the formation of multiple ring structures due to the repetitive pinning-depinning behavior of the droplet contact line (CL). It is found that the multiring structure shows vibrant iridescent structural colors while the coffee ring lacks a photonic nature. This difference in the structural color for the presence and absence of the surfactant is found to be dependent on the arrangement of the particles in the deposition structure. The particle arrangement in the multirings is monolayered and well-ordered. The ordering of the particles is strongly influenced by the particle dynamics, contact angle (CA), and CL dynamics of the evaporating colloidal solution droplet. Furthermore, the iridescent nature of the multiring deposition is demonstrated and explained. The dependence of the multiring deposition structure on the concentration of the dissolved surfactant and the suspended particles is also studied. The findings demonstrate that an intermediate surfactant concentration is desirable for the formation of a multiring structure. Further, the pinning-depinning CL dynamics that causes the formation of the multiring deposition structure is discussed. Finally, we demonstrate the applicability of the approach to smaller droplet volumes.

Depletion zone in two-dimensional deposits of soft microgel particles

HYPOTHESIS

Microgels are a class of model soft colloids that act like surfactants due to their amphiphilicity and are spontaneously adsorbed to the fluid-air interface. Here, we exploit the surfactant-like characteristics of microgels to generate Marangoni stress-induced fluid flow at the surface of a drop containing soft colloids. This Marangoni flow combined with the well-known capillary flow that arises during the evaporation of a drop placed on a solid surface, leads to the formation of a novel two-dimensional deposit of particles with distinct depletion zones at its edge.

EXPERIMENTS

The evaporation experiments using sessile and pendant drops containing microgel particles were carried out, and the microstructure of the final particulate deposits were recorded. The kinetics of the formation of the depletion zone and its width is studied by tracking the time evolution of the microgel particle monolayer adsorbed to the interface using in situ video microscopy.

FINDINGS

The experiments reveal that the depletion zone width linearly increases with droplet volume. Interestingly, the depletion zone width is larger for drops evaporated in pendant configuration than the sessile drops, which is corroborated by considering the gravitational forces exerted on the microgel assembly on the fluid-air interface. The fluid flows arising from Marangoni stresses and the effect of gravity provide novel ways to manipulate the self-assembly of two-dimensional layers of soft colloids.

On evaporation dynamics of an acoustically levitated multicomponent droplet: Evaporation-triggered phase transition and freezing

HYPOTHESIS

Multi-component droplet evaporation has received significant attention in recent years due to the broad range of applications such as material science, environmental monitoring, and pharmaceuticals. The selective evaporation induced by the different physicochemical properties of components is expected to influence the concentration distributions and the separation of mixtures, thereby leading to rich interfacial phenomena and phase interactions.

EXPERIMENTS

A ternary mixture system containing hexadecane, ethanol, and diethyl ether is investigated in this study. The diethyl ether exhibits both surfactant-like and co-solvent properties. Systematic experiments were performed using acoustic levitation technique to achieve a contact-less evaporation condition. The evaporation dynamics and temperature information are acquired in the experiments, using high-speed photography and infrared thermography technologies.

FINDINGS

Three distinct stages, namely, 'Ouzo state', 'Janus state', and 'Encapsulating state', are identified for the evaporating ternary droplet in acoustic levitation. A self-sustaining periodic freezing & melting evaporation mode is reported. A theoretical model is developed to characterize the multi-stage evaporating behaviors. We demonstrate the capability to tune the evaporating behaviors by varying the initial droplet composition. This work provides a deeper understanding of the interfacial dynamics and phase transitions involved in multi-component droplets and proposes novel strategies for the design and control of droplet-based systems.

Three-Dimensional Mirror-Assisted and Concave Pyramid-Shaped Solar-Thermal Steam Generator for Highly Efficient and Stable Water Evaporation and Brine Desalination

Although significant advances have been achieved in developing solar-driven water evaporators for seawater desalination, there is still room for simultaneously enhancing water evaporation efficiency, salt resistance, and utilization of solar energy. Herein, for the first time, we demonstrate a highly efficient three-dimensional (3D) mirror-assisted and concave pyramid-shaped solar-thermal water evaporation system for high-yield and long-term desalination of seawater and brine water, which consists of a 3D concave pyramid-shaped solar-thermal architecture on the basis of polypyrrole-coated nonwoven fabrics (PCNFs), a 3D mirror array, a self-floating polystyrene foam layer, and a tail-like PCNF for upward transport of water. The 3D concave pyramid-shaped solar-thermal architecture enables multiple solar light reflections to absorb more solar energy, while the 3D mirror-assisted solar light enhancement design can activate the solar-thermal energy conversion of the back side of the concave pyramid-shaped PCNF architecture to improve the solar-thermal energy conversion efficiency. Crucially, selective accumulation of the precipitated salts on the back side of the concave pyramid-shaped architecture is realized, ensuring a favorable salt-resistant feature. The 3D mirror-assisted and concave pyramid-shaped solar-driven water evaporation system achieves a record high water evaporation rate of 4.75 kg m^-2 h^-1 under 1-sun irradiation only and exhibits long-term desalination stability even when evaporating high-salinity brine waters, demonstrating its great applicability and reliability for high-yield solar-driven desalination of seawater and high-salinity brine water.

Geometrically-controlled evaporation-driven deposition of conductive carbon nanotube patterns on inclined surfaces

Controllable accumulation of carbon nanotubes in self-assembly techniques is of critical importance in smart patterning and printed electronics. This study investigates how inclining the substrate and inhibiting the droplet spreading by sharp solid edges can affect the droplet contact angle and pinning time to improve the electrical conductivity and uniformity of the deposited patterns. Rectangular and circular pedestals were employed to investigate the effect of geometry on the deposition characteristics and to incorporate the gravitational effect by varying the substrate inclination angle. The results indicate that confining the droplet contact line to remain pinned to the pedestal edge can significantly alter the width, uniformity, and precision of the deposited patterns. These improvements correspond to the enhancement of the droplet pinning time (due to the edge effect) and to the further increase of the local evaporation rate near the contact line (due to the droplet elevation). By conducting experiments on different rectangular pedestals with varying solid-liquid interfacial areas and comparing their deposition characteristics, a rectangular pedestal with specific dimensions is selected in terms of pattern consistency and material usage efficiency. It is also shown that higher inclination angles further increase the deposited line accumulation density. Combining confinement and inclination techniques yields promising deposited patterns with high consistency and low resistivity, ranging from 8.75 kΩ mm^-1 to a minimum of 0.63 kΩ mm^-1 for a 3 × 6 mm² rectangular pedestal.

Marangoni-induced reversal of meniscus-climbing microdroplets

Small water droplets or particles located at an oil meniscus typically climb the meniscus due to unbalanced capillary forces. Here, we introduce a size-dependent reversal of this meniscus-climbing behavior, where upon cooling of the underlying substrate, droplets of different sizes concurrently ascend and descend the meniscus. We show that microscopic Marangoni convection cells within the oil meniscus are responsible for this phenomenon. While dynamics of relatively larger water microdroplets are still dominated by unbalanced capillary forces and hence ascend the meniscus, smaller droplets are carried by the surface flow and consequently descend the meniscus. We further demonstrate that the magnitude and direction of the convection cells depend on the meniscus geometry and the substrate temperature and introduce a modified Marangoni number that well predicts their strength. Our findings provide a new approach to manipulating droplets on a liquid meniscus that could have applications in material self-assembly, biological sensing and testing, or phase change heat transfer.

Evaporation-driven liquid flow in sessile droplets

The evaporation of a sessile droplet spontaneously induces an internal capillary liquid flow. The surface-tension driven minimisation of surface area and/or surface-tension differences at the liquid-gas interface caused by evaporation-induced temperature or chemical gradients set the liquid into motion. This flow drags along suspended material and is one of the keys to control the material deposition in the stain that is left behind by a drying droplet. Applications of this principle range from the control of stain formation in the printing and coating industry, to the analysis of DNA, to forensic and medical research on blood stains, and to the use of evaporation-driven self-assembly for nanotechnology. Therefore, the evaporation of sessile droplets attracts an enormous interest from not only the fluid dynamics, but also the soft matter, chemistry, biology, engineering, nanotechnology and mathematics communities. As a consequence of this broad interest, knowledge on evaporation-driven flows in drying droplets has remained scattered among the different fields, leading to various misconceptions and misinterpretations. In this review we aim to unify these views, and reflect on the current understanding of evaporation-driven liquid flows in sessile droplets in the light of the most recent experimental and theoretical advances. In addition, we outline open questions and indicate promising directions for future research.

Controlled nucleation in evaporative crystallization using a confined-vapor driven solutal Marangoni effect

In droplet evaporation, the onset of evaporative crystallization near a contact line is inevitable if there is a coffee-ring effect increasing the local concentration of suspended particles at the edge. In this study, we present a novel idea to control the nucleation location of surfactant crystallization by using the vapor-driven solutal Marangoni effects of a binary mixture drop in a confined chamber. Here, the evaporated volatile vapors near the droplet surface can change the local surface tension and generate a radially inward flow that suppresses the conventional coffee-ring flow (i.e., evaporatively-driven capillary flow). Using this method, we could accumulate suspended particles in the middle of the droplet. In consequence, we succeed in adjusting the nucleation location from the droplet edge to the center provided that a gel-transition process is neglected, where the crystallized material has a relatively long chain length. Here, we tested different hydrocarbon chain lengths of the surfactants (i.e., CTAB > TTAB > DTAB). We expect that the proposed idea can offer great potential for controlling the nucleation in the evaporative crystallization and its final crystalline solid morphology.

Use of Heating Configuration to Control Marangoni Circulation during Droplet Evaporation

The present work presents a numerical study of the evaporation of a sessile liquid droplet deposited on a substrate and subjected to different heating configurations. The physical formulation accounts for evaporation, the Marangoni effect, conductive transfer in the support, radiative heating, and diffusion–convection in the droplet itself. The moving interface is solved using the Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) method. Simulations were performed using COMSOL Multiphysics. Different configurations were performed to investigate the effect of the heating conditions on the shape and intensity of the Marangoni circulations. A droplet can be heated by the substrate (different natures and thicknesses were tested) and/or by a heat flux supplied at the top of the droplet. The results show that the Marangoni flow can be controlled by the heating configuration. An upward Marangoni flow was obtained for a heated substrate and a downward Marangoni flow for a flux imposed at the top of the droplet. Using both heat sources generated two vortices with an upward flow from the bottom and a downward flow from the top. The position of the stagnation zone depended on the respective intensities of the heating fluxes. Controlling the circulation in the droplet might have interesting applications, such as the control of the deposition of microparticles in suspension in the liquid, the deposition of the solved constituent, and the enhancement of the evaporation rate.

Analytical modeling of the evaporation of sessile drop linear arrays

An analytical model for predicting the competitive evaporation of two and three sessile drops is proposed, based on an analytical solution, in terms of Mehler functions, of the steady species and energy conservation equations for the gaseous phase. The assessment through a comparison with accurate numerical solutions of the species conservation equations is reported in order to quantify the accuracy of the analytical solution. The model is validated against three available sets of experiments on two and three sessile drops on a line array. The decrease of the evaporation rate caused by the vicinity of sessile drops is reported in terms of a screening coefficient given by a relatively simple analytical expression. The influence of wall wettability on the evaporation of pairs of sessile drops is analyzed, and a parameter is proposed to quantify the effect of geometry in a unified way.

Competition between thermal and surfactant-induced Marangoni flow in evaporating sessile droplets

HYPOTHESIS

Thermal Marangoni flow in evaporating sessile water droplets is much weaker in experiments than predicted theoretically. Often this is attributed to surfactant contamination, but there have not been any in-depth analyses that consider the full fluid and surfactant dynamics. It is expected that more insight into this problem can be gained by using numerical models to analyze the interplay between thermal Marangoni flow and surfactant dynamics in terms of dimensionless parameters.

SIMULATIONS

Two numerical models are implemented: one dynamic model based on lubrication theory and one quasi-stationary model, that allows for arbitrary contact angles.

FINDINGS

It is found that insoluble surfactants can suppress the thermal Marangoni flow if their concentration is sufficiently large and evaporation and diffusion are sufficiently slow. Soluble surfactants, however, either reduce or increase the interfacial velocity, depending on their sorption kinetics. Furthermore, insoluble surfactant concentrations that cause an order 0.1% surface tension reduction are sufficient to reduce the spatially averaged tangential flow velocity at the interface by a factor 100. For larger contact angles and smaller droplets this required concentration is larger (typically <1% surface tension reduction). The numerical models are mutually validated by comparing their results in cases where both are valid.

Magnetowetting dynamics of sessile ferrofluid droplets: a review

The fascinating behavior of ferrofluids in a magnetic field has been intriguing researchers for many years. With the advancement in digital microfluidics, ferrofluid droplets have been extensively used in different applications ranging from biomedical to mechanical systems. Notably, the magnetic field can change the wetting dynamics of sessile ferrofluid droplets, leading to a plethora of interesting hydrodynamic phenomena. In the recent past, the spatiotemporal evolution of the droplet shape and contact line dynamics of a ferrofluid droplet in different magnetowetting scenarios has been explored widely. The relevant studies elucidate several critical aspects, such as the role of magnetic nanoparticles, carrier fluid, and the interaction of the magnetic fluid with the solid surface, among many others. Hence a systematic review of the progress made in understanding the fundamental and practical aspects of magnetowetting in the past decade (2010-2020) would be a helpful resource to the scientific community in the near future. Drawn by this motivation, an honest effort has been made in this Review to highlight the significant scientific findings concerning the sessile droplet magnetowetting phenomena within the timeline of interest. Several cutting-edge applications developed from the scientific findings in the purview of magnetowetting have also been discussed before outlining the conclusions and future areas of scope.

Absorption of surfactant-laden droplets into porous media: A numerical study

HYPOTHESIS

Droplets can absorb into permeable substrates due to capillarity. It is hypothesized that the contact line dynamics influence this process and that an unpinned contact line results in slower absorption than a pinned contact line, since the contact area between the droplet and the substrate will decrease over time for the former. Furthermore, it is expected that surfactants can be used to accelerate the absorption.

SIMULATIONS

Lubrication theory is employed to model the droplet and Darcy's law is combined with the conservation law of mass to describe the absorption dynamics. For the surfactant transport, several convection-diffusion-adsorption equations are solved.

FINDINGS

It is found that moving contact lines result in a parabola-shaped wetted area and a slower absorption and a deeper penetration depth than pinned contact lines. The evolution of the penetration depth was quantitatively validated by comparison with two experimental studies from literature. Surfactants were shown to accelerate the absorption process, but only if their adsorption kinetics are slow compared to the absorption. Otherwise, all surfactant adsorbs onto the pore walls before reaching the wetting front, resulting in the same absorption rate as without surfactants. This behavior agrees with both experimental and analytical literature.