Self-Propelled Motion of Micrometer-Sized Oil Droplets in Aqueous Solution of Surfactant

Abstract

When an immiscible oil is dispersed in an aqueous solution of a surfactant, emulsions consisting of various-sized oil droplets are generated. Micrometer-sized oil droplets exhibit exotic dynamics such as self-propelled motion in the surfactant solution. Transfer of the surfactant from the aqueous solution phase to the oil droplets through their interface leads to the self-propelled motion in a far-from-equilibrium condition. In this chapter, we demonstrate the observation methods of the self-propelled motion of micrometer-sized oil droplets using phase-contrast, polarized, and fluorescence microscopes and discuss their motion mechanism. Since the generated self-assemblies in micrometer-sized droplet systems are difficult to be identified by spectroscopic methods, the mechanisms of their self-propelled motion have not been clarified. When they are fully understood from nano-to microscale, these findings may be useful to develop not only more stable emulsion systems but also droplet-type analysis systems at the micrometer scale that can carry out reaction, analysis, and detection automatically without the need for an external force.