Elasto-capillary interaction of particles on the surfaces of ultra-soft gels: a novel route to study self-assembly and soft lubrication

TL;DR

This paper investigates how particles on ultra-soft gel surfaces interact through elasto-capillary forces, revealing tunable attraction behaviors that can inform self-assembly and biological process mimetics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis of particle interactions on soft elastic gels, showing how elasticity modifies capillary forces and enables controlled self-assembly.

Findings

Interaction energy follows a modified Bessel function decay

Particles move towards each other with negative diffusivity

Interaction range and strength are tunable via elasticity

Abstract

We study the interaction of small hydrophobic particles on the surface of an ultra-soft elastic gel, in which a small amount of elasticity of the medium balances the weights of the particles. The excess energy of the surface of the deformed gel causes them to attract as is the case with the generic capillary interactions of particles on a liquid surface. The variation of the gravitational potential energies of the particles resulting from their descents in the gel coupled with the superposition principle of Nicolson allow a fair estimation of the distance dependent attractive energy of the particles. This energy follows a modified Bessel function of the second kind with a characteristic elastocapillary decay length that decreases with the elasticity of the medium. An interesting finding of this study is that the particles on the gel move towards each other as if the system possesses a negative diffusivity that is inversely proportional to friction. This study illustrates how the capillary interaction of particles is modified by the elasticity of the medium, which is expected to have important implications in the surface force driven self-assembly of particles. In particular, this study points out that the range and the strength of the capillary interaction can be tuned in by appropriate choices of the elasticity of the support and the interfacial tension of the surrounding medium. Manipulation of the particle interactions is exemplified in such fascinating mimicry of the biological processes as the tubulation, phagocytic engulfment and in the assembly of particles that can be used to study nucleation and clustering phenomena in well controlled settings.