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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

High Throughput Analysis of Liquid Droplet Impacts
Published on: March 6, 2020
A study of oil droplet coalescence
1Department of Chemistry, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.
Abstract:
Oil droplets dispersed in water can be readily studied when they are coated with surfactants, which lower their interfacial tension and enhance their stability. Pure oil droplets are more difficult to study because of their high interfacial tension, which facilitates coalescence and the adsorption of contaminants. In this study, we have characterised the surface charging properties of a water insoluble oil, bromododecane, which has a density close to water. The small density difference allows us to study relatively large drops of this oil and to analyse its coalescence behaviour. The results obtained with this simple, surfactant-free, system suggest that an additional attractive force, such as the long range hydrophobic interaction, might be required to explain oil droplet coalescence behaviour.
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