The structure of colloidosomes with tunable particle density: simulation vs experiment

TL;DR

This paper compares experimental and simulation approaches to understanding the structure of colloidosomes, focusing on how particle size influences particle density and arrangement on water droplet surfaces.

Contribution

It introduces a combined experimental and simulation study to analyze the particle arrangements in colloidosomes with tunable densities based on particle size.

Findings

Radial distribution functions match between experiment and simulation.

Particle density on droplets can be controlled by particle size.

Simulation effectively replicates experimental structures.

Abstract

Colloidosomes are created in the laboratory from a Pickering emulsion of water droplets in oil. The colloidosomes have approximately the same diameter and by choosing (hairy) particles of different diameters it is possible to control the particle density on the droplets. The experiment is performed at room temperature. The radial distribution function of the assembly of (primary) particles on the water droplet is measured in the laboratory and in a computer experiment of a fluid model of particles with pairwise interactions on the surface of a sphere.