Issue |
EPL
Volume 112, Number 4, November 2015
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | 48004 | |
Number of page(s) | 6 | |
Section | Interdisciplinary Physics and Related Areas of Science and Technology | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/112/48004 | |
Published online | 11 December 2015 |
Homogeneous deposition of particles by absorption on hydrogels
1 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University - Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
2 Laboratoire Matière et Systèmes Complexes (MSC), UMR 7057 CNRS, Université Paris Diderot Bâtiment Condorcet, 10 rue Alice Domon et Léonie Duquet, Paris, France
Received: 21 September 2015
Accepted: 16 November 2015
When a drop containing colloidal particles evaporates on a surface, a circular stain made of these particles is often observed due to an internal flow toward the contact line. To hinder this effect, several approaches have been proposed such as flow modification by addition of surfactants or control of the interactions between the particles. All of these strategies involve the liquid phase while maintaining the drying process. However, substitution of evaporation by absorption into the substrate of the solvent has been investigated less. Here, we show that a droplet containing colloidal particles deposited on swelling hydrogels can lead to a nearly uniform coating. We report experiments and theory to explore the relation between the gel swelling, uniformity of deposition and the adsorption dynamics of the particles at the substrate. Our findings suggest that draining the solvent by absorption provides a robust route to homogeneous coatings.
PACS: 82.70.Dd – Colloids / 83.80.Kn – Physical gels and microgels
© EPLA, 2015
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