Deposits from evaporating emulsion drops

The processes in which droplets evaporate from solid surfaces, leaving behind distinct deposition patterns, have been studied extensively for variety of solutions. In this work, by combining different microscopy techniques (confocal fluorescence, video and Raman) we investigate pattern formation and evaporation-induced phase change in drying oil-in-water emulsion drops. This combination of techniques allows us to perform drop shape analysis while visualizing the internal emulsion structure simultaneously. We observe that drying of the continuous water phase of emulsion drops on hydrophilic surfaces favors the formation of ring-like zones depleted of oil droplets at the contact line, which originate from geometrical confinement of oil droplets by the meniscus. From such a depletion zone, a “coffee ring” composed of surfactant molecules forms as the water evaporates. On all surfaces drying induces emulsion destabilization by coalescence of oil droplets, commencing at the drop periphery. For hydrophobic surfaces, the coalescence of the oil droplets leads to a uniform oil film spreading out from the initial contact line. The evaporation dynamics of these composite drops indicate that the water in the continuous phase of the emulsion drops evaporates predominantly by diffusion through the vapor, showing no large differences to the evaporation of simple water drops.

Determining how diluted bloodstains were derived: Inferring distinctive characteristics and formulating a guideline

In forensic settings, diluted bloodstains are regularly encountered for example when bloodstains are mixed with tap-/rainwater, after deliberate cleaning attempts, or when blood is dropped on a wet surface such as a towel. Such diluted bloodstain scenarios can be subdivided into sequences of events in which a blood drop was either (1) readily diluted (a mixture of blood and water is deposited); (2) deposited on a surface that was readily moistened (first water, then blood) or (3) deposited and subsequently moistened (first blood, then water). Current bloodstain pattern analysis (BPA) lacks data and tools to distinguish these three ways of derivation of a diluted bloodstain that vary in the sequence of deposition of blood and water on textile. In this study, 880 bloodstains were examined for characteristics that can be used to determine the derivation of diluted bloodstains. A guideline to assist BPA-analysts in interpreting diluted bloodstains was extracted. The added value of this guideline was confirmed by conducting two surveys: one survey with and one without the guideline. A third survey confirmed that the characteristics also function on a broader range of textile types that have different weave and knit styles. This guideline can aid BPA-experts to determine, in an objective way, how diluted bloodstains derived which can aid in determining which activities took place at a crime scene.

Anomalous Wetting of Underliquid Systems: Oil Drops in Water and Water Drops in Oil

We have investigated the wetting phenomena of two underliquid systems, i.e., oil (drop) in water medium and water (drop) in oil medium for two different substrates, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and glass. We have conducted detailed static (equilibrium) and dynamic contact angle measurements of drops on substrates kept in air, water, and oils of varying densities, viscosities, and surface tensions. We compared the experimentally observed contact angles with those predicted by the conventional wetting theories, namely, Young's equation and the Owens and Wendt approach. The results reported herein showed that experimental values vary in the range of 8-20% with the conventional theoretical model for water (drop) in oil (viscous surrounding medium) on PMMA substrate. However, oil (drop) in water medium on PMMA does not show such an anomaly. By taking into consideration a thin oil film between a water drop and PMMA originating from the surrounding oil medium, the modified Young's equation is proposed here. We found that the percentage difference between experimentally observed contact angles with modified Young's equation is in the range of 0.88-5.88%, which is very less compared to percentage difference with classic Young's equation. For glass substrates, the standard Young's equation does not translate to the underliquid systems whereas the Owens and Wendt theory could not correctly predict the underliquid contact angles. However, the modified Young's equation with thin-film consideration agrees very well with the experimental values and thereby demonstrated the presence of a thin film between a drop and glass substrate originating from the surrounding viscous medium. This present experimental study coupled with detailed theoretical analyses demonstrates the anomalous wetting signature of drops on substrates submerged in surrounding viscous medium, which is very different from the reported studies for drops on substrates kept in air (inviscid medium).

Quantifying vapor transfer into evaporating ethanol drops in a humid atmosphere

A simultaneous evaporation and water intake empirical model for evaporation of organic solvent ethanol drops.

Alternative mechanism for coffee-ring deposition based on active role of free surface

When a colloidal sessile droplet dries on a substrate, the particles suspended in it usually deposit in a ringlike pattern. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as the "coffee-ring" effect. One paradigm for why this occurs is as a consequence of the solutes being transported towards the pinned contact line by the flow inside the drop, which is induced by surface evaporation. From this perspective, the role of the liquid-gas interface in shaping the deposition pattern is somewhat minimized. Here, we propose an alternative mechanism for the coffee-ring deposition. It is based on the bulk flow within the drop transporting particles to the interface where they are captured by the receding free surface and subsequently transported along the interface until they are deposited near the contact line. That the interface captures the solutes as the evaporation proceeds is supported by a Lagrangian tracing of particles advected by the flow field within the droplet. We model the interfacial adsorption and transport of particles as a one-dimensional advection-generation process in toroidal coordinates and show that the theory reproduces ring-shaped depositions. Using this model, deposition patterns on both hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces are examined in which the evaporation is modeled as being either diffusive or uniform over the surface.

Controlling droplet-based deposition uniformity of long silver nanowires by micrometer scale substrate patterning

We report control of droplet-deposit uniformity of long silver nanowires suspended in solutions by microscopic influence of the liquid contact line. Substrates with microfabricated line patterns with a pitch far smaller than mean wire length lead to deposit thickness uniformity compared to unpatterned substrates. For high boiling-point solvents, two significant effects were observed: The substrate patterns suppressed coffee ring staining, and the wire deposits exhibited a common orientation lying perpendicular over top the lines. The latter result is completely distinct from previously reported substrate groove channeling effects. This work shows that microscopic influence of the droplet contact line geometry including the contact angle by altered substrate wetting allows significant and advantageous influence of deposition patterns of wire-like solutes as the drop dries.

Morphology dependent surface enhanced fluorescence study on silver nanorod arrays fabricated by glancing angle deposition

The nanorods morphology dependence of surface-enhanced fluorescence (SEF) has been investigated for Rhodamine 6G adsorbed onto silver nanorod arrays.

Fabrication of hierarchically porous materials and nanowires through coffee ring effect

We report a versatile method for the fabrication of nanowires and hierarchical porous materials from a wide variety of ceramic materials such as CaCO3, ZnO, CuO, Co3O4, Co-doped ZnO, and Ag2O. The method consists of evaporation of CO2-enriched water microdroplets (diameter ∼3 μm) deposited from an aerosol onto heated substrates (T = 120 °C). A variety of porous scaffolds with 1-3 μm sized pores can be generated by tuning the process conditions. Subsequent sintering of the scaffolds is shown to generate nanosized pores in the walls of the porous scaffold creating a dual hierarchy of pore sizes (∼50 nm and 1-3 μm). We propose a mechanism for the formation of scaffolds based on the coffee-ring effect during the evaporation of microdroplets. Ostwald-ripening of CaCO3 scaffolds prepared without sintering yields scaffold structures consisting of two-dimensional crystals of CaCO3 that are one unit cell thick. The favorable application of CaCO3 scaffolds for the enhancement of bone healing around titanium implants with improved biocompatibility is also demonstrated.

Phase separation and the 'coffee-ring' effect in polymer-nanocrystal mixtures

The coupling between the 'coffee-ring' effect and liquid-liquid phase separation is examined for ternary mixtures of solvent, polymer and semiconductor nanocrystal. Specifically, we study mixtures of toluene, polystyrene (PS) and colloidal silicon nanocrystals (SiNCs) using real-space imaging and spectroscopic techniques to resolve the kinetic morphology of the drying front for varied molecular weight of the PS. Our results demonstrate that the size of the polymer has a significant impact on both phase-separation and drying, and we relate these observations to simulations, measured and predicted binodal curves, and the observed shape of the flow field at the contact line. The results inform a deposition process that reduces the influence of drying instabilities for low-molecular-weight polymers while paving the way for more detailed and generic computational descriptions of drying instabilities in complex fluids.

Surfactant-mediated control of colloid pattern assembly and attachment strength in evaporating droplets

This study demonstrates that the pattern assembly and attachment strength of colloids in an evaporating sessile droplet resting on a smooth substrate can be controlled by adding nonionic solutes (surfactant) to the solution. As expected, increasing the surfactant concentration leads to a decrease in initial surface tension of the drop, σ(0). For the range of initial surface tensions investigated (39-72 mN m(-1)), three distinct deposition patterns were produced: amorphous stains (σ(0) = 63-72 mN m(-1)), coffee-ring stains (σ(0) = 48-53 mN m(-1)), and concentric rings (σ(0) = 39-45 mN m(-1)). A flow-displacement system was used to measure the attachment strength of the dried colloids. Characteristic drying regimes associated with the three unique pattern formations are attributed to abrupt transitions of contact line dynamics during evaporation. The first transition from slipping- to pinned-contact line was found to be a direct result of the competition between mechanical instability of the droplet and the friction generated by pinned colloids at the contact line. The second transition from pinned- to recurrent-stick-rip-slip-contact line was caused by repeated liquid film rupturing from evaporation-intensified surfactant concentration. Data from flow-displacement tests indicate that attachment strength of dried particles is strongest for amorphous stains (lowest surfactant concentration) and weakest for concentric rings (highest surfactant concentration). The mechanism behind these observations was ascribed to the formation and adsorption of micelles onto colloid and substrate surfaces as the droplet solution evaporates. The range of attachment forces observed between the colloids and the solid substrate were well captured by extended-DLVO interactions accounting for van der Waals attraction, electric double layer repulsion, and micelle-protrusion repulsion. Both empirical and theoretical results suggest that an increasingly dense layer of adsorbed micellar-protrusions on colloid and substrate surfaces acts as a physical barrier that hinders strong van der Waals attractive interactions at close proximity. Thereby, colloid stains dried at higher surfactant concentrations are more easily detached from the substrate when dislodging forces are applied than stains dried at lower surfactant concentrations.