Divide, Conquer, and Stabilize: Engineering Strong Fluid-Fluid Interfaces.

Abstract

In multiphase materials, structured fluid-fluid interfaces can provide mechanical resistance against destabilization. Coarsening, coalescence, and significant deformation can be stalled with appropriate interfacial rheology and thus preserve interface integrity. Often, interfacial "strength" is generated by dense, packed surface populations, which are challenging to achieve through gradual, equilibrium-limited adsorption. Recent efforts have focused on developing new methods to produce kinetically trapped interfacial structures that possess desirable viscoelasticity or viscoplasticity, sometimes even with sparse populations. In creating these interfaces, we should recognize that the processing history is deterministic and offers alternative handles to engineer useful rheology. In this Perspective, we consider what can be achieved by designing not only the intrinsic qualities of surface-active species but also the process that brings them to the interface. We contrast different classes of processing history through a somewhat historical lens: after creating an interface ("divide"), what ("conquering") strategies exist for populating it with agents that ensure stabilization? Navigating the delicate interplay among property, structure, and processing history is required to improve material and energy use and to realize unique multiphase materials.