Drying colloidal systems: Laboratory models for a wide range of applications

Abstract

Abstract. The drying of complex fluids provides a powerful insight into phenomena that take place on time and length scales not normally accessible. An important feature of complex fluids, colloidal dispersions and polymer solutions is their high sensitivity to weak external actions. Thus, the drying of complex fluids involves a large number of physical and chemical processes. The scope of this review is the capacity to tune such systems to reproduce and explore specific properties in a physics laboratory. A wide variety of systems are presented, ranging from functional coatings, food science, cosmetology, medical diagnostics and forensics to geophysics and art.

A spring network simulation in three dimensions for designing optimal crack pattern template to fabricate transparent conducting electrodes

“…d n and d n+1 , becomes negligible and the system is said to have saturated to d min . Experiments measuring the rate of the weight reduction of the drying colloid closely fit the power law in equation (2). The change in the weight almost saturates at 65-75% of the initial mass.…”

“…Crack formation in various materials is a familiar sight and finds an important place in physics and engineering research. In recent times, the study of desiccation cracks [1] has become specially important as technical applications of intentionally designed crack patterns are coming up [2]. A cleverly generated crack network can be used as an important lithography template to fabricate a metal wire network on a transparent substrate for transparent conducting electrode (TCE) applications.…”

Morphogenetic processes: from leaves to embryos

“…One common element to these approaches is to describe out-of-equilibrium systems involving multicomponent objects that strongly interact with each other at small scales via physicochemical surface interactions or mechanically through deformation. The main strength of this experimental modelling is based on tunable inter components forces and the diversity of physical properties emerging here during the drying process [28]. Thereafter, the study related to the crack network has been extended to different applications by relating the pattern and the matter, particularly the paintings cracks in artworks [29,30].…”

Superspreading and Drying of Trisiloxane-Laden Quantum Dot Nanofluids on Hydrophobic Surfaces

“…Applications of complex liquids laden with colloids hold promise for a wide range of areas of industry including ink-jet printing, optics and lighting industry, agriculture, cosmetics, and oil recovery. [1][2][3][4] Additionally, good understanding of colloidal suspensions behavior at different conditions can contribute significantly to medicine, biotechnology development, food industry, and forensics, since all biological liquids are ingenious compositions of base liquids and different types of colloids. [5][6][7] In recent years, a novel type of complex liquids containing nanoparticles that is commonly referred to in literature as nanofluids has drawn the attention of researchers due to their unique thermal and wetting properties dramatically distinguishing from the properties of pure liquids.…”