Controlled Buckling and Crumpling of Nanoparticle-Coated Droplets

TL;DR

This study presents a novel experimental method to induce and analyze buckling and crumpling in nanoparticle-coated droplets by controlled volume reduction, revealing insights into their solid-like surface behavior.

Contribution

It introduces a new approach to controllably induce and observe buckling in nanoparticle-coated droplets, advancing understanding of their structural transitions.

Findings

Droplets can be buckled or crumpled by volume reduction.

Morphologies depend on volume reduction extent and droplet size.

Droplet surfaces exhibit solid-like behavior.

Abstract

We introduce a new experimental approach to study the structural transitions of large numbers of nanoparticle-coated droplets as their volume is reduced. We use an emulsion system where the dispersed phase is slightly soluble in the continuous phase. By adding a fixed amount of unsaturated continuous phase, the volume of the droplets can be controllably reduced, causing them to buckle or crumple, thereby becoming nonspherical. The resultant morphologies depend both on the extent of volume reduction and the average droplet size. The buckling and crumpling behavior implies that the droplet surfaces are solid.