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Updated: Sep 12, 2025

Confocal Imaging of Confined Quiescent and Flowing Colloid-polymer Mixtures
Published on: May 20, 2014
Confined colloidal droplets dry to form circular mazes
Ilaria Beechey-Newman1, Natalya Kizilova2,3, Andreas Andersen Hennig1
1Department of Physics, PoreLab, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim N-7491, Norway.
Abstract:
During drying, particle-laden sessile droplets will leave so-called coffee-stain rings behind. This phenomenon is well known and well understood (Deegan et al., Nature 389, 827-829 (1997). Here, we show that when particle-laden droplets confined in a slit are allowed to evaporate very slowly, they do not deposit coffee rings, but form surprisingly intricate, circular maze-like patterns. We present experiments that illustrate this pattern formation and discuss the factors that determine when such patterns can form. We are not aware of reports of natural examples of the formation of such beautiful patterns under confinement, although it seems likely that they exist.
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