Demystifying Fogging in Lyophilized Products: Impact of Pharmaceutical Processing

A commonly encountered challenge with freeze-dried drug products is glass vial fogging. Fogging is characterized by a thin layer of product deposited upon the inner surface of the vial above the lyophilized cake. While considered to be a routine cosmetic defect in many instances, fogging around the shoulder and neck of the vial may potentially impact container closure integrity and reject rates during inspection. In this work, the influence of processing conditions i.e. vial pre-treatment, lyophilization cycle modifications and filling conditions on fogging was evaluated. A battery of analytical techniques was employed to investigate factors affecting glass vial fogging. A fogging score was used to quantify its severity in freeze-dried products. Additionally, a dye-based method was used to study solution upcreep (Marangoni flow) following product filling. Our lab-scale results indicate measurable improvement in fogging following the addition of an annealing step in the lyophilization cycle. Pre-freeze isothermal holding of the vials (at 5°C on the lyophilizer shelf) for an extended duration indicated a reduction in fogging whereas an increase in the freezing time exhibited no effect on fogging. Vial pre-treatment conditions were critical determinants of fogging for Type 1 vials whereas they had no impact on fogging in TopLyo® vials. The headspace relative humidity (RH) investigation also indicated sufficient increase in the water vapor pressure inside the vial to be conducive to the formulation of a hydration film - the precursor to Marangoni flow.

Marangoni-driven spreading of a droplet on a miscible thin liquid layer

HYPOTHESIS

The coalescence of droplets with liquid-gas interfaces of different surface tensions is common in nature and industrial applications, where the Marangoni-driven film spreading is an essential process. Unlike immiscible fluids governed by triple contact line dynamics, the mixing between two miscible fluids strongly couples with the film spreading process, which are expected to manifest distinct power-law relations for the temporal increase in the film radius.

EXPERIMENTS

We experimentally investigate the Marangoni-driven film spreading phenomenon for a droplet with lower surface tension dropping onto a miscible, thin liquid layer. The temporal growth of the film radius was detected by using a novel deep convolutional neural network, the U2-net method. Scaling analysis was performed to interpret the spreading dynamics of the film.

FINDINGS

We find that the film radius exhibits a three-stage power-law relation over time, with the exponent varying from 1/2 to 1/8, and back to 1/2. The diffusion-affected Marangoni stresses in these three stages were derived, and two estimations of viscous stress were considered. Through estimating and balancing the viscous stress with the Marangoni stress, the three-stage power-law relation was derived and validated.

The Impact of Marangoni and Buoyancy Convections on Flow and Segregation Patterns during the Solidification of Fe-0.82wt%C Steel

Due to the high computational costs of the Eulerian multiphase model, which solves the conservation equations for each considered phase, a two-phase mixture model is proposed to reduce these costs in the current study. Only one single equation for each the momentum and enthalpy equations has to be solved for the mixture phase. The Navier-Stokes and energy equations were solved using the 3D finite volume method. The model was used to simulate the liquid-solid phase transformation of a Fe-0.82wt%C steel alloy under the effect of both thermocapillary and buoyancy convections. The alloy was cooled in a rectangular ingot (100 × 100 × 10 mm3) from the bottom cold surface to the top hot free surface by applying a heat transfer coefficient of h = 600 W/m2/K, which allows for heat exchange with the outer medium. The purpose of this work is to study the effect of the surface tension on the flow and segregation patterns. The results before solidification show that Marangoni flow was formed at the free surface of the molten alloy, extending into the liquid depth and creating polygonized hexagonal patterns. The size and the number of these hexagons were found to be dependent on the Marangoni number, where the number of convective cells increases with the increase in the Marangoni number. During solidification, the solid front grew in a concave morphology, as the centers of the cells were hotter; a macro-segregation pattern with hexagonal cells was formed, which was analogous to the hexagonal flow cells generated by the Marangoni effect. After full solidification, the segregation was found to be in perfect hexagonal shapes with a strong compositional variation at the free surface. This study illuminates the crucial role of surface-tension-driven Marangoni flow in producing hexagonal patterns before and during the solidification process and provides valuable insights into the complex interplay between the Marangoni flow, buoyancy convection, and solidification phenomena.

Uniform Nanoscale Ion-Selective Membrane Prepared by Precision Control of Solution Spreading and Evaporation

Ion-selective membrane has broad application in various fields, while the present solution-processed techniques can only prepare uniform membrane with microscale thickness. Herein, a high-quality polymer membrane with nanoscale thickness and uniformity is precisely prepared by controlling solution spreading and solvent evaporation stability/rate. With the arrayed capillaries, the stable spreading of polymer solution with volume of microliter induces the formation of solution film with micrometers thickness. Moreover, the fast increase of solution dynamic viscosity during solvent evaporation inhibits nonuniform Marangoni flow and capillary flow in solution film. Consequently, the uniform Nafion-Li membranes with ∼200 nm thickness are prepared, while their Li+ conductivity is 2 orders of magnitude higher than that of commercially Nafion-117 membrane. Taking lithium-sulfur battery as a model device, the cells (capacities of 8-10 mAh cm-2) can stably operate for 150 cycles at a S loading of 12 mg cm-2 and an electrolyte/sulfur ratio of ∼7.

Photo-Activated Growth and Metastable Phase Transition in Metallic Solid Solutions

Laser processing in metals is versatile yet limited by its reliance on phase transformation through heating rather than electronic excitation due to their low absorptivity, attributing from highly ordered structures. Metastable states (i.e., surfaces, glasses, undercooled liquids), however, present a unique platform, both energetically and structurally to enable energy landscape tuning through selective stimuli. Herein, this ansatz is demonstrated by exploiting thin passivating oxides to stabilize an undercooled state, followed by photo-perturbation of the near surface order to induce convective Marangoni flows, edge-coalescence and phase transition into a larger metastable solid bearing asymmetric composition between the near surface and core of the formed structure. The self-terminating nature of the process creates a perfectly contained system which can maintain a high relaxation energy barrier hence deep metastable states for extended periods of time.

Motion of magnetic motors across liquid-liquid interface

HYPOTHESIS

In a number of applications related to chemical engineering and drug delivery, magnetic nanoparticles should move through a liquid-liquid interface in the presence of surfactant molecules. However, due to the action of capillary forces, this is not always possible. The mechanism of particle motion through the interface essentially depends on the intensity of the Marangoni flow, which is induced on the interface during its deformation.

EXPERIMENTS

In this paper we study the motion of nanoparticles Fe3O4 through the water-tridecane interface under the action of a nonuniform magnetic field when using different surfactants.

FINDINGS

If the linear size of the magnetic motor turns out to be less than a certain critical value, then it is not able to move between phases due to the action of capillary forces on the interface. Depending on the type and concentration of the surfactant used, various mechanisms for the motor motion through the liquid-liquid interface can be carried out. In one of them, a liquid phase is transferred through the interface along with a movable motor, while in the other, it is not.

In Situ Interfacial-Assembly Perovskite Quantum Dot via Marangoni and Capillary Convection Manipulation for Robust Luminescence

In solid substrates, colloidal solutions produce irregular deposits on the surface by Marangoni flow and capillary flow during evaporation. Reportedly, perovskite quantum dots (PQDs) as a colloidal solution have irregular surfaces based on a similar principle as the coffee ring effect in QD systems when droplets evaporate from the substrate. Given that this issue is due to the direction of Marangoni and capillary flows, the substrate is tilted to change the direction of the flows. The appropriate angle is determined by controlling the angle of the substrate so that the two flows circulate similarly; this method is called "assembly-coating". Herein, we compare the PL intensity before and after the thermal evaporation of the thin films prepared by conventional and assembly-coating. Moreover, by characterizing the diode device (hole-only space charge limited current) for each coating process, the charge carrier characteristics are investigated in detail. Therefore, we suggest a facile strategy to obtain a uniform surface and thermal evaporative stability using colloidal solutions. This strategy is effective in designing surface uniformity and light-emitting layers for colloidal solution deposition and assembly.

Self-Solidifying Active Droplets Showing Memory-Induced Chirality

Most synthetic microswimmers do not reach the autonomy of their biological counterparts in terms of energy supply and diversity of motions. Here, this work reports the first all-aqueous droplet swimmer powered by self-generated polyelectrolyte gradients, which shows memory-induced chirality while self-solidifying. An aqueous solution of surface tension-lowering polyelectrolytes self-solidifies on the surface of acidic water, during which polyelectrolytes are gradually emitted into the surrounding water and induce linear self-propulsion via spontaneous symmetry breaking. The low diffusion coefficient of the polyelectrolytes leads to long-lived chemical trails which cause memory effects that drive a transition from linear to chiral motion without requiring any imposed symmetry breaking. The droplet swimmer is capable of highly efficient removal (up to 85%) of uranium from aqueous solutions within 90 min, benefiting from self-propulsion and flow-induced mixing. These results provide a route to fueling self-propelled agents which can autonomously perform chiral motion and collect toxins.

Heterogeneous Self-Assembly of a Single Type of Nanoparticle Modulated by Skin Formation

Self-assembly of colloidal nanoparticles has generated tremendous interest due to its widespread applications in structural colorations, sensors, and optoelectronics. Despite numerous strategies being developed to fabricate sophisticated structures, the heterogeneous self-assembly of a single type of nanoparticle in one step remains challenging. Here, facilitated by spatial confinement induced by a skin layer in a drying droplet, we achieve the heterogeneous self-assembly of a single type of nanoparticle by quickly evaporating a colloid-poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) droplet. During the drying process, a skin layer forms at the droplet surface. The resultant spatial confinement assembles nanoparticles into face-centered-cubic (FCC) lattices with (111) and (100) plane orientations, generating binary bandgaps and two structural colors. The self-assembly of nanoparticles can be regulated by varying the PEG concentration so that FCC lattices with homo- or heterogeneous orientation planes can be prepared on demand. Besides, the approach is applicable for diverse droplet shapes, various substrates, and different nanoparticles. The one-pot general strategy breaks the requirements for multiple types of building blocks and predesigned substrates, extending the fundamental understanding underlying colloidal self-assembly.

Spontaneous clustering of exfoliated two-dimensional materials at the air-water interface

HYPOTHESIS

Coating approaches which trap nanoparticles at an interface have become popular for depositing single-layer films from nanoparticle dispersions. Past efforts concluded that concentration and aspect ratio dominate the impact on aggregation state of nanospheres and nanorods at an interface. Although few works have explored the clustering behaviour of atomically thin, two-dimensional materials, we hypothesize that nanosheet concentration is the dominant factor leading to a particular cluster structure and that this local structure impacts the quality of densified Langmuir films.

EXPERIMENTS

We systematically studied cluster structures and Langmuir film morphologies of three different nanosheets, namely chemically exfoliated molybdenum disulfide, graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide.

FINDINGS

We observe cluster structure transitions from island-like domains to more linear networks in all materials as dispersion concentration is reduced. Despite differences in material properties and morphologies, we obtained the same overall correlation between sheet number density (A/V) in the spreading dispersion and cluster fractal structure (d_f) is observed, with reduced graphene oxide sheets showing a slight delay upon transitioning into a lower-density cluster. Regardless of assembly method, we found that cluster structure impacts the attainable density of transferred Langmuir films. A two-stage clustering mechanism is supported by by considering the spreading profile of solvents and an analysis of interparticle forces at the air-water interface.

Highly stretchable strain sensors based on Marangoni self-assemblies of graphene and its hybrids with other 2D materials

Graphene and other two-dimensional materials (2DMs) have been shown to be promising candidates for the development of flexible and highly-sensitive strain sensors. However, the successful implementation of 2DMs in practical applications is slowed down by complex processing and still low sensitivity. Here, we report on a novel development of strain sensors based on Marangoni self-assemblies of graphene and of its hybrids with other 2DMs that can both withstand very large deformation and exhibit highly sensitive piezoresistive behaviour. By exploiting the Marangoni effect, reference films of self-assembled reduced graphene oxide (RGO) are first optimized, and the electromechanical behaviour has been assessed after deposition onto different elastomers demonstrating the potential of producing strain sensors suitable for different fields of application. Hybrid networks have been then prepared by adding hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) and fluorinated graphene (FGr) to the RGO dispersion. The hybrid integration of 2D materials is demonstrated to become a potential solution to increase substantially the sensitivity of the produced resistive strain sensors without compromising the mechanical integrity of the film. In fact, for large quasi-static deformations, a range of gauge factor values up to 2000 were demonstrated, while retaining a stable performance under cyclic deformations.

Competing particle attractee in liquid bridges

Assuming the so-called particle accumulation structures (PAS) in liquid bridges as archetypal systems for the investigation of particle self-assembly phenomena in laminar time-periodic flows, an attempt is made here to disentangle the complex hierarchy of relationships existing between the multiplicity of the loci of aggregation (streamtubes which coexist in the physical space as competing attractee) and the particle structures effectively showing up. While the former depends on purely topological (fluid-dynamic) arguments, the influential factors driving the outcomes of the fluid-particle interaction seem to obey a much more complex logic, which makes the arrangement of particles different from realization to realization. Through numerical solution of the governing Eulerian and Lagrangian equations for liquid and mass transport, we show that for a fixed aspect ratio of the liquid bridge, particles can be gradually transferred from one streamtube to another as the Stokes number and/or the Marangoni number are varied. Moreover, ranges exist where these attractors compete resulting in overlapping or intertwined particle structures, some of which, characterized by a strong degree of asymmetry, have never been reported before. This article is part of the theme issue 'New trends in pattern formation and nonlinear dynamics of extended systems'.

Marangoni-driven nonlinear dynamics of bimolecular frontal systems: a general classification for equal diffusion coefficients

When bimolecular fronts form in solutions, their dynamics is likely to be affected by chemically driven convection such as buoyancy- and Marangoni-driven flows. It is known that front dynamics in the presence of buoyancy-driven convection can be predicted solely on the basis of the one-dimensional reaction-diffusion concentration profiles but that those predictions fail for Marangoni-driven convection. With a two-dimensional reaction-diffusion-Marangoni convection model, we analyze here convective effects on the time scalings of the front properties, together with the influence of reaction reversibility and of the ratio of initial reactants' concentrations on the front dynamics. The effect of buoyancy forces is here neglected by assuming the reactive system to be in zero-gravity condition and/or the solution density to be spatially homogenous. This article is part of the theme issue 'New trends in pattern formation and nonlinear dynamics of extended systems'.

Oil-on-water droplets faceted and stabilized by vortex halos in the subphase

For almost 200 y, the dominant approach to understand oil-on-water droplet shape and stability has been the thermodynamic expectation of minimized energy, yet parallel literature shows the prominence of Marangoni flow, an adaptive gradient of interfacial tension that produces convection rolls in the water. Our experiments, scaling arguments, and linear stability analysis show that the resulting Marangoni-driven high-Reynolds-number flow in shallow water overcomes radial symmetry of droplet shape otherwise enforced by the Laplace pressure. As a consequence, oil-on-water droplets are sheared to become polygons with distinct edges and corners. Moreover, subphase flows beneath individual droplets can inhibit the coalescence of adjacent droplets, leading to rich many-body dynamics that makes them look alive. The phenomenon of a "vortex halo" in the liquid subphase emerges as a hidden variable.

Seaweed and Dendritic Growth in Unsaturated Fatty Acid Monolayers

The lateral movement in lipid membranes depends on their diffusion constant within the membrane. However, when the flux of the subphase is high, the convective flow beneath the membrane also influences lipid movement. Lipid monolayers of an unsaturated fatty acid at the water-air interface serve as model membranes. The formation of domains in the liquid/condensed coexistence region is investigated. The dimension of the domains is fractal, and they grow with a constant growth velocity. Increasing the compression speed of the monolayer induces a transition from seaweed growth to dendritic growth. Seaweed domains have broad tips and wide and variable side branch spacing. In contrast, dendritic domains have a higher fractal dimension, narrower tips, and small, well-defined side branch spacing. Additionally, the growth velocity is markedly larger for dendritic than seaweed growth. The domains' growth velocity increases and the tip radius decreases with increasing supersaturation in the liquid/condensed coexistence region. Implications for membranes are discussed.

Surfactant spreading on a deep subphase: Coupling of Marangoni flow and capillary waves

HYPOTHESIS

Surfactant-driven Marangoni spreading generates a fluid flow characterized by an outwardly moving "Marangoni ridge". Spreading on thin and/or high viscosity subphases, as most of the prior literature emphasizes, does not allow the formation of capillary waves. On deep, low viscosity subphases, Marangoni stresses may launch capillary waves coupled with the Marangoni ridge, and new dependencies emerge for key spreading characteristics on surfactant thermodynamic and kinetic properties.

EXPERIMENTS AND MODELING

Computational and physical experiments were performed using a broad range of surfactants to report the post-deposition motion of the surfactant front and the deformation of the subphase surface. Modeling coupled the Navier-Stokes and advective diffusion equations with an adsorption model. Separate experiments employed tracer particles or an optical density method to track surfactant front motion or surface deformation, respectively.

FINDINGS

Marangoni stresses on thick subphases induce capillary waves, the slowest of which is co-mingled with the Marangoni ridge. Changing Marangoni stresses by varying the surfactant system alters the surfactant front velocity and the amplitude - but not the velocity - of the slowest capillary wave. As spreading progresses, the surfactant front and its associated surface deformation separate from the slowest moving capillary wave.

Controllable dried patterns of colloidal drops

HYPOTHESIS

When an aqueous colloidal drop dries on a solid substrate, the final pattern of the dried deposit can be manipulated through controlling the internal flow states of the drop.

EXPERIMENTS

We report a strategy to control the dried patterns of aqueous colloidal drop by controlling the drop configurations and relative humidity. For this purpose, both sessile and pendant drops are studied.

FINDING

The capillary flow, which is responsible for coffee-ring, is suppressed by increasing the relative humidity. Then, surprisingly, the internal convection in the pendant drop is significantly stronger than that in the sessile drop. This phenomenon leads to the formation of the disc-like and spot-like dried patterns in the sessile and pendant drop, respectively, which are the results of different interactions between the Marangoni and (buoyancy-induced) natural convections in the sessile and pendant drops. In the sessile drop, the Marangoni and natural convections mutually restrain each other due to their opposite flow directions. In contrast, in the pendant drop, the two convections mutually enhance each other, due to their same flow directions. Thisnew strategy offers a foreign-material-free and external-force-free means to control the dried patterns of the drop.

Controlling Droplet Marangoni Flows to Improve Microscopy-Based TB Diagnosis

In developing countries, the most common diagnostic method for tuberculosis (TB) is microscopic examination sputum smears. Current assessment requires time-intensive inspection across the microscope slide area, and this contributes to its poor diagnostic sensitivity of ≈50%. Spatially concentrating TB bacteria in a smaller area is one potential approach to improve visual detection and potentially increase sensitivity. We hypothesized that a combination of magnetic concentration and induced droplet Marangoni flow would spatially concentrate Mycobacterium tuberculosis on the slide surface by preferential deposition of beads and TB–bead complexes in the center of an evaporating droplet. To this end, slide substrate and droplet solvent thermal conductivities and solvent surface tension, variables known to impact microfluidic flow patterns in evaporating droplets, were varied to select the most appropriate slide surface coating. Optimization in a model system used goniometry, optical coherence tomography, and microscope images of the final deposition pattern to observe the droplet flows and maximize central deposition of 1 μm fluorescent polystyrene particles and 200 nm nanoparticles (NPs) in 2 μL droplets. Rain-X^® polysiloxane glass coating was identified as the best substrate material, with a PBS-Tween droplet solvent. The use of smaller, 200 nm magnetic NPs instead of larger 1 μm beads allowed for bright field imaging of bacteria. Using these optimized components, we compared standard smear methods to the Marangoni-based spatial concentration system, which was paired with magnetic enrichment using iron oxide NPs, isolating M. bovis BCG (BCG) from samples containing 0 and 10³ to 10⁶ bacilli/mL. Compared to standard smear preparation, paired analysis demonstrated a combined volumetric and spatial sample enrichment of 100-fold. With further refinement, this magnetic/Marangoni flow concentration approach is expected to improve whole-pathogen microscopy-based diagnosis of TB and other infectious diseases.

Pixelated Microsized Quantum Dot Arrays Using Surface-Tension-Induced Flow

Quantum dots (QDs) are semiconducting nanoparticles that exhibit unique fluorescent characteristics when excited by an ultraviolet light source. Owing to their highly saturated emissions, display panels using QDs as pixels have been presented. However, the complications of the nanofabrication procedure limit the industrial application of QDs. This study suggests a method to arrange high-aspect-ratio QD pixels by inducing both Laplace-pressure-driven capillary flow and thermally driven Marangoni flow. The evaporation of colloidal QDs induces a capillary flow that drives the QDs toward the inner tips of V-shaped structures. Additionally, the Marangoni flow arranges the gathered QDs at the tip; thus, they could form a high dune, overcoming the limitations of the existing capillary assembly method using evaporation. Using these phenomena, clover-shaped (assembly of V-shaped edges) templates were made to gather numerous QDs, and the clover with a 30° angle afforded the highest brightness among all the angle structures. Finally, by demonstrating a 100-cm²-sized QD microarray with high uniformity (98.6%), our method shows the feasibility of large-area fabrication, which has extensive application in manufacturing QD displays, anti-counterfeiting labels, and other QD-based optical devices.

Full-Field Mapping and Flow Quantification of Melt Pool Dynamics in Laser Powder Bed Fusion of SS316L

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) has a wide range of uses in high-tech industries, including the aerospace and biomedical fields. For LPBF, the flow of molten metal is crucial; until now, however, the flow in the melt pool has not been described thoroughly in 3D. Here, we provide full-field mapping and flow measurement of melt pool dynamics in laser powder bed fusion, through a high-fidelity numerical model using the finite volume method. The influence of Marangoni flow, evaporation, as well as recoil pressure have been included in the model. Single-track experiments were conducted for validation. The temperature profiles at different power and speed parameters were simulated, and results were compared with experimental temperature recordings. The flow dynamics in a single track were exposed. The numerical and experimental findings revealed that even in the same melting track, the melt pool’s height and width can vary due to the strong Marangoni force. The model showed that the variation in density and volume for the same melting track was one of the critical reasons for defects. The acquired findings shed important light on laser additive manufacturing processes and pave the way for the development of robust, computational models with a high degree of reliability.

Consistent Thermo-Capillarity and Thermal Boundary Conditions for Single-Phase Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics

A model for capillary phenomena including temperature-dependency and thermal boundary conditions is presented in the numerical framework of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). The model requires only a single fluid phase and is therefore computationally more efficient than surface tension schemes which need an explicit fluid-fluid or fluid-gas interface. The model makes use of a surface identification mechanism based on the SPH renormalization tensor. All relevant properties of the continuum surface force (CSF) based approach, i.e., the delta function, normal vector and curvature, are calculated in a consistent manner. The model is parametrized by physical material properties and is successfully validated by means of a large set of analytical test cases. The applicability of the proposed model to more complex scenarios is demonstrated.

Pattern Formation upon Evaporation of Sessile Droplets of Polyelectrolyte/Surfactant Mixtures on Silicon Wafers

The formation of coffee-ring deposits upon evaporation of sessile droplets containing mixtures of poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDADMAC) and two different anionic surfactants were studied. This process is driven by the Marangoni stresses resulting from the formation of surface-active polyelectrolyte–surfactant complexes in solution and the salt arising from the release of counterions. The morphologies of the deposits appear to be dependent on the surfactant concentration, independent of their chemical nature, and consist of a peripheral coffee ring composed of PDADMAC and PDADMAC–surfactant complexes, and a secondary region of dendrite-like structures of pure NaCl at the interior of the residue formed at the end of the evaporation. This is compatible with a hydrodynamic flow associated with the Marangoni stress from the apex of the drop to the three-phase contact line for those cases in which the concentration of the complexes dominates the surface tension, whereas it is reversed when most of the PDADMAC and the complexes have been deposited at the rim and the bulk contains mainly salt.

On the Insignificant Role of the Oxidation Process on Ultrafast High-Spatial-Frequency LIPSS Formation on Tungsten

The presence of surface oxides on the formation of laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) is regularly advocated to favor or even trigger the formation of high-spatial-frequency LIPSS (HSFL) during ultrafast laser-induced nano-structuring. This paper reports the effect of the laser texturing environment on the resulting surface oxides and its consequence for HSFLs formation. Nanoripples are produced on tungsten samples using a Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser under atmospheres with varying oxygen contents. Specifically, ambient, 10 mbar pressure of air, nitrogen and argon, and 10⁻⁷ mbar vacuum pressure are used. In addition, removal of any native oxide layer is achieved using plasma sputtering prior to laser irradiation. The resulting HSFLs have a sub-100 nm periodicity and sub 20 nm amplitude. The experiments reveal the negligible role of oxygen during the HSFL formation and clarifies the significant role of ambient pressure in the resulting HSFLs period.

Marangoni circulation in evaporating droplets in the presence of soluble surfactants

HYPOTHESIS

Soluble surfactants in evaporating sessile droplets can cause a circulatory Marangoni flow. However, it is not straightforward to predict for what cases this vortical flow arises. It is hypothesized that the occurrence of Marangoni circulation can be predicted from the values of a small number of dimensionless parameters.

SIMULATIONS

A numerical model for the drop evolution is developed using lubrication theory. Surfactant transport is implemented by means of convection-diffusion-adsorption equations. Results are compared to literature.

FINDINGS

It is shown that stronger evaporation, slower adsorption kinetics and lower solubility of the surfactants all tend to increasingly suppress Marangoni circulation. These results are found to be consistent with both experimental and numerical results from literature and can explain qualitative differences in flow behavior of surfactant-laden droplets. Furthermore, diffusion also tends to counteract Marangoni flow, where bulk diffusion has a more significant influence than surface diffusion. Also, the formation of micelles is found to slightly suppress Marangoni circulation. Experimental results from literature, however, show that in some cases circulatory behavior is enhanced by micelles, possibly even resulting in qualitative changes in the flow. Potential explanations for these differences are given and extensions to the model are suggested to improve its consistency with experiments.

Ultrafast Microdroplet Generation and High-Density Microparticle Arraying Based on Biomimetic Nepenthes Peristome Surfaces

Manipulation of massive droplets, particles, as well as cells has enabled wide applications. However, most existing technologies require complicated processes, operations, or external setup. This article demonstrates the employment of biomimetic Nepenthes peristome surfaces (NPS) in achieving ultrafast microdroplet generation and high-density microparticle arraying, with the assistance of curvature-induced Laplace pressure in slipping mode and evaporation-driven Marangoni effect in climbing mode, respectively. Different wetting phenomena on the biomimetic NPS were observed under variable contact angles and tilting angles, strongly affecting the microdroplet generation and microparticle array. As the optimal results, 5 μm-size microparticles were arrayed with 85% coverage rate in 65 s and 20 μm-size microdroplets were arrayed with 100% coverage rate in 3 s. In this study, this well-designed bionic surface shows excellent performances as an ultrafast, universal, and straightforward approach to capture and array micro-objects in aqueous solutions for various biological and chemical analyses.

Thermo-Fluid-Dynamic Modeling of the Melt Pool during Selective Laser Melting for AZ91D Magnesium Alloy

A three dimensional finite element model (FEM) was established to simulate the temperature distribution, flow activity, and deformation of the melt pool of selective laser melting (SLM) AZ91D magnesium alloy powder. The latent heat in phase transition, Marangoni effect, and the movement of laser beam power with a Gaussian energy distribution were taken into account. The influence of the applied linear laser power on temperature distribution, flow field, and the melt-pool dimensions and shape, as well as resultant densification activity, was investigated and is discussed in this paper. Large temperature gradients and high cooling rates were observed during the process. A violent flow occurred in the melt pool, and the divergent flow makes the melt pool wider and longer but shallower. With the increase of laser power, the melt pool’s size increases, but the shape becomes longer and narrower. The width of the melt pool in single-scan experiment is acquired, which is in good agreement with the results predicted by the simulation (with error of 1.49%). This FE model provides an intuitive understanding of the complex physical phenomena that occur during SLM process of AZ91D magnesium alloy. It can help to select the optimal parameters to improve the quality of final parts and reduce the cost of experimental research.

Understanding the adsorption and potential tear film stability properties of recombinant human lubricin and bovine submaxillary mucins in an in vitro tear film model

The wetting and adsorption properties for two glycoproteins, recombinant human lubricin and bovine submaxillary mucins (BSM) were evaluated on hydrophilic and hydrophobic glass dome surfaces in a simplified in vitro tear film model. We show that both recombinant human lubricin (rh-lubricin) and BSM solutions render surfaces hydrophilic and when the fluid films reach 500 nm or less, the fluids resist evaporation-driven breakup through a volumetric flux across the surface, which we believe is due to evaporation-driven solutocapillary flows. rh-Lubricin was able to maintain a wet film without spontaneous breakup for longer periods of time than BSM at lower concentrations, which we attribute to differences in adsorption properties, measured by QCM-D, that result from surface charge and structural differences (confirmed by zeta potential, DLS, and SAXS measurements).

Self-Propelled Supracolloidal Fibers from Multifunctional Polymer Surfactants and Droplets

Advanced synthetic materials are needed to produce nano- and mesoscale structures that function autonomously, catalyze reactions, and convert chemical energy into motion. This paper describes supracolloidal fiber-like structures that are composed of self-adhering, or "sticky," oil-in-water emulsion droplets. Polymer zwitterion surfactants serve as the key interfacial components of these materials, enabling multiple functions simultaneously, including acting as droplet-stabilizing surfactants, interdroplet adhesives, and building blocks of the fibers. This fiber motion, a surprising additional feature of these supracolloidal structures, is observed at the air-water interface and hinged on the chemistry of the polymer surfactant. The origin of this motion is hypothesized to involve transport of polymer from the oil-water interface to the air-water interface, which generates a Marangoni (interfacial) stress. Harnessing this fiber motion with functional polymer surfactants, and selection of the oil phase, produced worm-like objects capable of rotation, oscillation, and/or response to external fields. Overall, these supracolloidal fibers fill a design gap between self-propelled nano/microscale particles and macroscale motors, and have the potential to serve as new components of soft, responsive materials structures.

High-Rate Printing of Micro/Nanoscale Patterns Using Interfacial Convective Assembly

Printing of electronics has been receiving increasing attention from academia and industry over the recent years. However, commonly used printing techniques have limited resolution of micro- or sub-microscale. Here, a directed-assembly-based printing technique, interfacial convective assembly, is reported, which utilizes a substrate-heating-induced solutal Marangoni convective flow to drive particles toward patterned substrates and then uses van der Waals interactions as well as geometrical confinement to trap the particles in the pattern areas. The influence of various assembly parameters including type of mixing solvent, substrate temperature, particle concentration, and assembly time is investigated. The results show successful assembly of various nanoparticles in patterns of different shapes with a high resolution down to 25 nm. In addition, the assembly only takes a few minutes, which is two orders of magnitude faster than conventional convective assembly. Small-sized (diameter below 5 nm) nanoparticles tend to coalesce during the assembly process and form sintered structures. The fabricated silver nanorods show single-crystal structure with a low resistivity of 8.58 × 10^-5 Ω cm. With high versatility, high resolution, and high throughput, the interfacial convective assembly opens remarkable opportunities for printing next generation nanoelectronics and sensors.

Multiscale Self-Assembly of Distinctive Weblike Structures from Evaporated Drops of Dilute American Whiskeys

When a sessile droplet of a complex mixture evaporates, its nonvolatile components may deposit into various patterns. One such phenomena, the coffee ring effect, has been a topic of interest for several decades. Here, we identify what we believe to be a fascinating phenomenon of droplet pattern deposition for another well-known beverage-what we have termed a "whiskey web". Nanoscale agglomerates were generated in diluted American whiskeys (20-25% alcohol by volume), which later stratified as microwebs on the liquid-air interface during evaporation. The web's strandlike features result from monolayer collapse, and the resulting pattern is a function of the intrinsic molecular constituents of the whiskey. Data suggest that, for our conditions (diluted 1.0 μL drops evaporated on cleaned glass substrates), whiskey webs were unique to diluted American whiskey; however, similar structures were generated with other whiskeys under different conditions. Further, each product forms their own distinct pattern, demonstrating that this phenomenon could be used for sample analysis and counterfeit identification.

Direct Synthesis of a Self-Assembled WSe2 /MoS2 Heterostructure Array and its Optoelectrical Properties

Functional van der Waals heterojunctions of transition metal dichalcogenides are emerging as a potential candidate for the basis of next-generation logic devices and optoelectronics. However, the complexity of synthesis processes so far has delayed the successful integration of the heterostructure device array within a large scale, which is necessary for practical applications. Here, a direct synthesis method is introduced to fabricate an array of self-assembled WSe₂ /MoS₂ heterostructures through facile solution-based directional precipitation. By manipulating the internal convection flow (i.e., Marangoni flow) of the solution, the WSe₂ wires are selectively stacked over the MoS₂ wires at a specific angle, which enables the formation of parallel- and cross-aligned heterostructures. The realized WSe₂ /MoS₂ -based p-n heterojunction shows not only high rectification (ideality factor: 1.18) but also promising optoelectrical properties with a high responsivity of 5.39 A W^-1 and response speed of 16 µs. As a feasible application, a WSe₂ /MoS₂ -based photodiode array (10 × 10) is demonstrated, which proves that the photosensing system can detect the position and intensity of an external light source. The solution-based growth of hierarchical structures with various alignments could offer a method for the further development of large-area electronic and optoelectronic applications.

Material patterning on substrates by manipulation of fluidic behavior

Patterned materials on substrates are of great importance for a wide variety of applications. In solution-based approaches to material patterning, fluidic flow is inevitable. Here we demonstrate not only the importance of fluidic behavior but also the methodology of engineering the flow pattern to guide the material crystallization and assembly. We show by both experiment and simulation that substrate heating, which is generally used to accelerate evaporation, produces irregular complex vortexes. Instead, a top-heating–bottom-cooling (THBC) set-up offers an inverse temperature gradient and results in a single Marangoni vortex, which is desired for ordered nanomaterial patterning near the contact line. We then realize the fabrication of large-scale patterns of iodide perovskite crystals on different substrates under THBC conditions. We further demonstrate that harnessing the flow behavior is a general strategy with great feasibility to pattern various functional materials ranging from inorganic, organic, hybrid to biological categories on different substrates, presenting great potential for practical applications.

Flow regime transitions and effects on solute transport in surfactant-driven Marangoni flows

HYPOTHESIS

Surfactant-driven Marangoni flow on liquid films is predicted to depend on subphase depth and initial surface tension difference between the subphase and deposited surfactant solution drop. Changes in flow behavior will impact transport of soluble species entrained in the Marangoni flow along the surface. In extreme cases, the subphase film may rupture, limiting transport. Understanding this behavior is important for applications in drug delivery, coatings, and oil spill remediation.

EXPERIMENTS

A trans-illumination optical technique measured the subphase height profiles and drop content transport after drop deposition when varying initial subphase depth, surfactant concentration, and subphase viscosity.

FINDINGS

Three distinct flow regimes were identified depending on the subphase depth and surfactant concentration and mapped onto an operating diagram. These are characterized as a "central depression" bounded by an outwardly traveling ridge, an "annular depression" bounded by a central dome and the traveling ridge, and an "annular dewetting" when the subphase ruptures. Well above the critical micelle concentration, transitions between regimes occur at characteristic ratios of gravitational and initial surface tension gradient stresses; transitions shift when surfactant dilution during spreading weakens the stress before the completion of the spreading event. Drop contents travel with the ridge, but dewetting hinders transport.

Temperature Gradients Drive Bulk Flow Within Microchannel Lined by Fluid-Fluid Interfaces

Surface tension gradients induce Marangoni flow, which may be exploited for fluid transport. At the micrometer scale, these surface-driven flows can be quite significant. By introducing fluid-fluid interfaces along the walls of microfluidic channels, bulk fluid flows driven by temperature gradients are observed. The temperature dependence of the fluid-fluid interfacial tension appears responsible for these flows. In this report, the design concept for a biocompatible microchannel capable of being powered by solar irradiation is provided. Using microscale particle image velocimetry, a bulk flow generated by apparent surface tension gradients along the walls is observed. The direction of flow relative to the imposed temperature gradient agrees with the expected surface tension gradient. The phenomenon's ability to replace bulky peripherals, like traditional syringe pumps, on a diagnostic microfluidic device that captures and detects leukocyte subpopulations within blood is demonstrated. Such microfluidic devices may be implemented for clinical assays at the point of care without the use of electricity.

Drying of Ethanol/Water Droplets Containing Silica Nanoparticles

The evaporation of colloidal drop on a substrate with a pinned contact line usually results in a ring stain (the so-called coffee-ring effect). In this paper, we present an investigation of the evaporation of sessile picoliter droplets of binary solvent mixtures containing fumed silica nanoparticles (NPs). The internal flows in ethanol/water droplets are suppressed, and a uniform deposit morphology is achieved with a low loading (0.2-0.5 vol %) of hydrophobic fumed silica NPs. The effective control of the particle deposit morphology is based on a rapid sol-gel transition assisted by preferential evaporation of ethanol. For droplets of dilute suspensions, the fumed silica NPs tend to agglomerate and form an elastic network quickly, starting from the region close to the three-phase contact line and below the gas-liquid interface and growing toward the interior of the droplet as the solvents evaporate and the surface descends. Higher silica particle concentrations, lower ethanol concentrations, and weaker Marangoni flows all contribute to the sol-gel transition and hence to the suppression of the coffee-ring effect.

Controllable internal mixing in coalescing droplets induced by the solutal Marangoni convection of surfactants with distinct headgroup architectures

Through several complementary experiments, an investigation of the bulk and interfacial flows that emerged during the coalescence of two water-in-oil droplets with asymmetric compositional properties was performed. By adding surfactant to one of the coalescing droplets and leaving the other surfactant-free, a strong interfacial tension gradient (i.e., solutal Marangoni) driving energy between the merging droplets generated pronounced internal mixing. The contributions of two distinct types of surfactant, anionic ammonium lauryl sulfate (ALS) and cationic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) on the rate of coalescence bridge expansion and on the generation of opposing flows during coalescence were investigated. All coalescence experiments supported the power law relation between the radius of the expanding connective liquid bridge and time, r_b ∝ t^1/2. However, the presence of surfactant decreased the magnitude of the prefactor in this relationship due to induced interfacial solutal Marangoni convection. Experiments showed that packing efficiency, diffusivity, and bulk concentration of the selected surfactant are vital in solutal Marangoni convection and thus the degree and timescale of internal mixing between merging droplets, which has yet to be adequately discussed within the literature. Denser interfacial packing efficiency and lower diffusivity of CTAB produced stronger opposing bulk and interfacial flow as well as greater bulk mixing. A discussion of how optimized surfactant selection and solutal Marangoni convection can be used for passively inducing convective mixing between coalescing drops in microfluidic channels when viscosity modulation is not feasible is provided.

Analysis of Extracellular Vesicles Using Coffee Ring

Extracellular vesicles are categorized in subsets according to their biogenesis processes. To facilitate the investigation of subsets, an effective method is needed for isolating subpopulations. The efficacy of existing density and size-based isolation methods is limited, and as a result, the correlation of properties within separated subpopulations is modest. Here, we introduced size separation with ∼48 nm resolution that exploits Marangoni flow and the coffee-ring effect in microdroplets in which extracellular vesicles are spatially deposited at different location according to size of extracellular vesicle. Interestingly, the analysis of tetraspanin proteins of the extracellular vesicles facilitated by this method reveals that the size of extracellular vesicles is correlated with expression of tetraspanin proteins (CD9, CD63, CD81) that are associated with the size of extracellular vesicles. The findings show that CD9 and CD81 are uniformly expressed regardless of size, CD63 is highly expressed only in larger extracellular vesicles. This evidence indicates that extracellular vesicles can be classified based on size and expression of CD63.

A review of aqueous foam in microscale

In recent years, significant progress has been achieved in the study of aqueous foams. Having said this, a better understanding of foam physics requires a deeper and profound study of foam elements. This paper reviews the studies in the microscale of aqueous foams. The elements of aqueous foams are interior Plateau borders, exterior Plateau borders, nodes, and films. Furthermore, these elements' contribution to the drainage of foam and hydraulic resistance are studied. The Marangoni phenomena that can happen in aqueous foams are listed as Marangoni recirculation in the transition region, Marangoni-driven flow from Plateau border towards the film in the foam fractionation process, and Marangoni flow caused by exposure of foam containing photosurfactants under UV. Then, the flow analysis of combined elements of foam such as PB-film along with Marangoni flow and PB-node are studied. Next, we contrast the behavior of foams in different conditions. These various conditions can be perturbation in the foam structure caused by injected water droplets or waves or using a non-Newtonian fluid to make the foam. Further review is about the effect of oil droplets and particles on the characteristics of foam such as drainage, stability and interfacial mobility.

Evaporative Optical Marangoni Assembly: Tailoring the Three-Dimensional Morphology of Individual Deposits of Nanoparticles from Sessile Drops

We have recently devised the evaporative optical Marangoni assembly (eOMA), a novel and versatile interfacial flow-based method for directing the deposition of colloidal nanoparticles (NPs) on solid substrates from evaporating sessile drops along desired patterns using shaped UV light. Here, we focus on a fixed UV spot irradiation resulting in a cylinder-like deposit of assembled particles and show how the geometrical features of the single deposit can be tailored in three dimensions by simply adjusting the optical conditions or the sample composition, in a quantitative and reproducible manner. Sessile drops containing cationic NPs and a photosensitive surfactant at various concentrations are allowed to evaporate under a single UV beam with a diameter much smaller than that of the drop. After complete evaporation, the geometrical characteristics of the NP deposits are precisely assessed using optical profilometry. We show that both the volume and the radial size of the light-directed NP deposit can be adjusted by varying the diameter or the intensity of the UV beam or alternatively by changing the concentration of the photosensitive surfactant. Notably, in all these cases, the deposits display an almost constant median height corresponding to a few layers of particles. Moreover, both the radial and the axial extent of the patterns are tuned by changing the NP concentration. These results are explained by the correlation among the strength of Marangoni flow, the particle trapping efficiency, and the volume of the deposit, and by the role of evaporation-driven flow in strongly controlling the deposit height. Finally, we extend the versatility of eOMA by demonstrating that NPs down to 30 nm in diameter can be effectively patterned on glass or polymeric substrates.

Polypeptide Composite Particle-Assisted Organization of π-Conjugated Polymers into Highly Crystalline "Coffee Stains"

We demonstrate that homopolypeptides covalently tethered to anisotropically shaped silica particles induce crystalline ordering of representative semiconducting polymers. Films drop-cast from chloroform dispersions of poly(γ-stearyl-l-glutamate) (PSLG) composite particles and poly(3-hexythiophene) (P3HT) led to highly ordered crystalline structures of P3HT. Hydrophobic-hydrophobic interactions between the alkyl side chains of P3HT and PSLG were the main driving force for P3HT chain ordering into the crystalline assemblies. It was found that the orientation of rigid P3HT fibrils on the substrate adopted the directionality of the evaporating front. Regardless of the PSLG-coated particle dimensions used, the drop-cast films displayed patterns that were shaped by the coffee ring and Marangoni effects. PSLG-coated particles of high axial ratio (4.2) were more efficient in enhancing the electronic performance of P3HT than low axial ratio (2.6) homologues. Devices fabricated from the ordered assemblies displayed improved charge-carrier transport performance when compared to devices fabricated from P3HT alone. These results suggest that PSLG can favorably mediate the organization of semiconducting polymers.

Mechanisms, imaging and structure of tear film breakup

Tear film breakup (BU) is an important aspect of dry eye disease, as a cause of ocular aberrations, irritation and ocular surface inflammation and disorder. Additionally, measurement of breakup time (BUT) is a common clinical test for dry eye. The current definition of BUT is subjective; here, a more objective concept of "touchdown" - the moment when the lipid layer touches down on the corneal surface - is proposed as an aid to understanding processes in early and late stages of BU development. Models of BU have generally been based on the assumption that a single mechanism is involved. In this review, it is emphasized that BU does not have a single explanation but it is the end result of multiple processes. A three-way classification of BU is proposed - "immediate," "lid-associated," and "evaporative." Five different types of imaging systems are described, which have been used to help elucidate the processes involved in BU and BUT; a new method, "high resolution chromaticity images," is presented. Three directions of tear flow - evaporation, osmotic flow out of the ocular surface, and "tangential flow" along the ocular surface - determine tear film thinning between blinks, leading to BU. Ten factors involved in BU and BUT, both before and after touchdown, are discussed. Future directions of research on BU are proposed.

Enabling Marangoni flow at air-liquid interfaces through deposition of aerosolized lipid dispersions

It has long been known that deposited drops of surfactant solution induce Marangoni flows at air-liquid interfaces. These surfactant drops create a surface tension gradient, which causes an outward flow at the fluid interface. We show that aqueous phospholipid dispersions may be used for this same purpose. In aqueous dispersions, phospholipids aggregate into vesicles that are not surface-active; therefore, drops of these dispersions do not initiate Marangoni flow. However, aerosolization of these dispersions disrupts the vesicles, allowing access to the surface-active monomers within. These lipid monomers do have the ability to induce Marangoni flow. We hypothesize that monomers released from broken vesicles adsorb on the surfaces of individual aerosol droplets and then create localized surface tension reduction upon droplet deposition. Deposition of lipid monomers via aerosolization produces surface tensions as low as 1mN/m on water. In addition, aerosolized lipid deposition also drives Marangoni flow on entangled polymer solution subphases with low initial surface tensions (∼34mN/m). The fact that aerosolization of phospholipids naturally found within pulmonary surfactant can drive Marangoni flows on low surface tension liquids suggests that aerosolized lipids may be used to promote uniform pulmonary drug delivery without the need for exogenous spreading agents.

Transport of a partially wetted particle at the liquid/vapor interface under the influence of an externally imposed surfactant generated Marangoni stress

Marangoni flows offer an interesting and useful means to transport particles at fluid interfaces with potential applications such as dry powder pulmonary drug delivery. In this article, we investigate the transport of partially wetted particles at a liquid/vapor interface under the influence of Marangoni flows driven by gradients in the surface excess concentration of surfactants. We deposit a microliter drop of soluble (sodium dodecyl sulfate aqueous solution) surfactant solution or pure insoluble liquid (oleic acid) surfactant on a water subphase and observe the transport of a pre-deposited particle. Following the previous observation by Wang et al. [1] that a surfactant front rapidly advances ahead of the deposited drop contact line initiates particle motion but then moves beyond the particle, we now characterize the two dominant, time- and position-dependent forces acting on the moving particle: 1) a surface tension force acting on the three-phase contact line around the particle periphery due to the surface tension gradient at the liquid/vapor interface which always accelerates the particle and 2) a viscous force acting on the immersed surface area of the particle which accelerates or decelerates the particle depending on the difference in the velocities of the liquid and particle. We find that the particle velocity evolves over time in two regimes. In the acceleration regime, the net force on the particle acts in the direction of particle motion, and the particle quickly accelerates and reaches a maximum velocity. In the deceleration regime, the net force on the particle reverses and the particle decelerates gradually and stops. We identify the parameters that affect the two forces acting on the particle, including the initial particle position relative to the surfactant drop, particle diameter, particle wettability, subphase thickness, and surfactant solubility. We systematically vary these parameters and probe the spatial and temporal evolution of the two forces acting on the particle as it moves along its trajectory in both regimes. We find that a larger particle always lags behind the smaller particle when placed at an equal initial distance from the drop. Similarly, particles more deeply engulfed in the subphase lag behind those less deeply engulfed. Further, the extent of particle transport is reduced as the subphase thickness decreases, due to the larger velocity gradients in the subphase recirculation flows.

Reducing Spatial Heterogeneity of MALDI Samples with Marangoni Flows During Sample Preparation

This work demonstrates a method to prepare homogeneous distributions of analytes to improve data reproducibility in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry (MS). Natural-air drying processes normally result in unwanted heterogeneous spatial distributions of analytes in MALDI crystals and make quantitative analysis difficult. This study demonstrates that inducing Marangoni flows within drying droplets can significantly reduce the heterogeneity problem. The Marangoni flows are accelerated by changing substrate temperatures to create temperature gradients across droplets. Such hydrodynamic flows are analyzed semi-empirically. Using imaging mass spectrometry, changes of heterogeneity of molecules with the change of substrate temperature during drying processes are demonstrated. The observed heterogeneities of the biomolecules reduce as predicted Marangoni velocities increase. In comparison to conventional methods, drying droplets on a 5 °C substrate while keeping the surroundings at ambient conditions typically reduces the heterogeneity of biomolecular ions by 65%-80%. The observation suggests that decreasing substrate temperature during droplet drying processes is a simple and effective means to reduce analyte heterogeneity for quantitative applications. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.

Light-Directed Particle Patterning by Evaporative Optical Marangoni Assembly

Controlled particle deposition on surfaces is crucial for both exploiting collective properties of particles and their integration into devices. Most available methods depend on intrinsic properties of either the substrate or the particles to be deposited making them difficult to apply to complex, naturally occurring or industrial formulations. Here we describe a new strategy to pattern particles from an evaporating drop, regardless of inherent particle characteristics and suspension composition. We use light to generate Marangoni surface stresses resulting in flow patterns that accumulate particles at predefined positions. Using projected images, we generate a broad variety of complex patterns, including multiple spots, lines and letters. Strikingly, this method, which we call evaporative optical Marangoni assembly (eOMA), allows us to pattern particles regardless of their size or surface properties, in model suspensions as well as in complex, real-world formulations such as commercial coffee.