Curvature dynamics and long-range effects on fluid-fluid interfaces with colloids

TL;DR

This study explores how colloidal dumbbells influence the curvature dynamics of fluid-fluid interfaces during phase separation, revealing non-local effects that could inform the design of advanced soft materials.

Contribution

It demonstrates that soft colloidal dumbbells significantly impact interface curvature dynamics without altering coarsening, highlighting non-local effects and potential for material design.

Findings

Colloidal dumbbells alter curvature dynamics of fluid interfaces.

Curvature exhibits non-local effects influenced by dumbbell properties.

Statistical curvature analysis reveals insights into fluid inhomogeneities.

Abstract

We investigate the dynamics of a phase-separating binary fluid, containing colloidal dumbbells anchored to the fluid-fluid interface. Extensive Lattice Boltzmann-Immersed Boundary method simulations reveal that the presence of soft dumbbells can significantly affect the curvature dynamics of the interface between phase-separating fluids, even though the coarsening dynamics is left nearly unchanged. In addition, our results show that the curvature dynamics exhibits distinct non-local effects, which might be exploited for the design of new soft mesoscale materials. We point out that the inspection of the statistical dynamics of the curvature can disclose new insights into local inhomogeneities of the binary fluid configuration, as a function of the volume fraction and aspect ratio of the dumbbells.