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Published on: September 11, 2018
Controlled Uniform Coating from the Interplay of Marangoni Flows and Surface-Adsorbed Macromolecules
Hyoungsoo Kim1, François Boulogne1, Eujin Um1
1Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA.
Abstract:
Surface coatings and patterning technologies are essential for various physicochemical applications. In this Letter, we describe key parameters to achieve uniform particle coatings from binary solutions. First, multiple sequential Marangoni flows, set by solute and surfactant simultaneously, prevent nonuniform particle distributions and continuously mix suspended materials during droplet evaporation. Second, we show the importance of particle-surface interactions that can be established by surface-adsorbed macromolecules. To achieve a uniform deposit in a binary mixture, a small concentration of surfactant and surface-adsorbed polymer (0.05 wt% each) is sufficient, which offers a new physicochemical avenue for control of coatings.
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