Ion-selective Marangoni instability coupled with the nonlinear adsorption/desorption rate

Dynamic Oscillation and Motion of Oil-in-Water Emulsion Droplets

The interplay of interfacial tensions on droplets results in a range of self-powered motions that mimic those of living systems and serve as a tunable model to understand their complex non-equilibrium behavior. Spontaneous shape deformations and oscillations are crucial features observed in nature but difficult to incorporate in synthetic artificial systems. Here, we report sessile oil-in-water emulsions that exhibit rapid oscillating behavior. The oscillations depend on the nature and concentration of the surfactant, the chemical composition of the oil, and the wettability of the solid substrate. The rapid changes in the contact angle per oscillation are observed using side-view optical microscopy. We propose that the changes in the interfacial tension of the oil droplets is due to the partitioning of the surfactant into the oil phase and the movement of self-emulsified oil out of the parent droplets giving rise to the rhythmic variation in droplet contact-line. The ability to control and understand droplet oscillation can help model similar oscillations in out-of-equilibrium systems in nature and reproduce biomimetic behavior in artificial systems for various applications, such as microfluidic lab-on-a-chip and adaptive materials.

Ionic Tuning of Droplet Motion on Water Surface

Herein, the oscillation of an oil droplet on the surface of water is studied. The droplet contains an anionic surfactant that can react with the cations present in water. The oscillation starts after a random motion, and the oscillation pattern apparently depends on the cation species in the water phase. However, a common pattern is included. The cation species only affects the amplitude and frequency and sometimes perturbs the regular pattern owing to the instability at the oil/water interface. This common pattern is explained by a simple model that incorporates the surfactant transport from the droplet to the surrounding water surface. The dependency of the amplitude and frequency on cation species is expressed quantitatively by a single parameter, the product of the amplitude and square of frequency. This parameter depends on the cationic species and can be understood in terms of the spreading coefficient. The simple model successfully explains this dependency.

Cation-Dependent Emergence of Regular Motion of a Float

We report a unique ion-dependent motion of a float at an oil/water interface. The type of motion depended on the cation species that was dissolved in the water. Irregular vibrations occurred when the water contained Ca(2+), back-and-forth motion occurred when the water contained Fe(2+), a type of motion intermediate between these occurred when the water contained Mn(2+), and intermittent long-distance travel occurred when the water contained Fe(3+). This is one of the simplest systems that can be used to show how macroscopic regular motion emerges depending on specific chemicals, which is one of the central issues in the study of biological and biomimetic motions.

Spontaneous non-linear oscillations of interfacial tension at oil/water interface

Three particular systems are considered where transfer of a surfactant across the interface between two immiscible liquids, water and oil, is accompanied by spontaneous oscillations of relaxation type with an abrupt decrease of interfacial tension followed by its gradual increase. These oscillations cannot be explained in the frameworks of linear stability analysis, because they are related to essentially non-linear effects. The oscillations characteristics depend on the properties of a surfactant (interfacial activity, solubility, partition coefficient, density difference between the surfactant solution and pure solvent), other solutes present in one or both liquid phases, and, usually, also on the system geometry. If the transferred surfactant is an ionic one, then, the oscillations of interfacial tension are synchronised with the oscillations of electric potential across the interface. The available hypothesis about oscillations mechanism are discussed, in particular, the model proposed recently for oscillations due to Marangoni instability by surfactant transfer from a point source located in one of the liquid bulk phases.

Spontaneous oscillations due to solutal Marangoni instability: air/water interface

Systems far from equilibrium are able to self-organize and often demonstrate the formation of a large variety of dissipative structures. In systems with free liquid interfaces, self-organization is frequently associated with Marangoni instability. The development of solutal Marangoni instability can have specific features depending on the properties of adsorbed surfactant monolayer. Here we discuss a general approach to describe solutal Marangoni instability and review in details the recent experimental and theoretical results for a system where the specific properties of adsorbed layers are crucial for the observed dynamic regimes. In this system, Marangoni instability is a result of surfactant transfer from a small droplet located in the bulk of water to air/water interface. Various dynamic regimes, such as quasi-steady convection with a monotonous decrease of surface tension, spontaneous oscillations of surface tension, or their combination, are predicted by numerical simulations and observed experimentally. The particular dynamic regime and oscillation characteristics depend on the surfactant properties and the system aspect ratio.

Ion-selective Marangoni instability--chemical sensing of specific cation for macroscopic movement

Spontaneous motion and tension oscillation of an oil/water interface responding to specific cation Ca(2+) or Fe(3+) were observed when the oil phase containing the anionic surfactant bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate came in contact with the cation-containing water. Both the dynamics were the results of Marangoni instability. Complex formation between the anionic surfactant and cation caused the instability. The results showing the level of cation extraction and degree of interfacial tension revealed that the surfactant-cation combination forms an oil-soluble complex with reduced surface activity. Brewster angle microscopy indicated that molecules of the complex tend to aggregate at the interface. This aggregation affected the desorption rate of the complex. We were able to generate ion-selective instability by imposing mechanical and electrochemical perturbations to the interface at equilibrium. The results from these efforts suggested that the aggregation is a type of thermodynamic transition and is required for the onset of instability: Desorption probably occurs as an exfoliation of the aggregated complex, which generates the gradient of interfacial tension. For the standard experiment of biphasic contact, two neighboring interfacial flows compress the local interface between them. We considered that this compression provides mechanical work to the local interface, resulting in desorption of the aggregates and occurrence of instability. Both complex formation and aggregation are possible in the presence of the specific cation. The interface detects the cation via the chemical and thermodynamic processes in order to develop the macroscopic movement, a form of biomimetic motion of the oil/water interface.