Abstract
Drying-mediated patterning of colloidal particles is a physical phenomenon that must be understood in inkjet printing technology to obtain crack-free uniform colloidal films. Here we experimentally study the drying-mediated patterns of a model colloid-polymer suspension and specifically observe how the deposit pattern appears after droplet evaporation by varying particle size and polymer concentration. We find that at a high polymer concentration, the ring-like pattern appears in suspensions with large colloids, contrary to suppression of ring formation in suspensions with small colloids thanks to colloid-polymer interactions. We attribute this unexpected reversal behavior to hydrodynamics and size dependence of colloid-polymer interactions. This finding would be very useful in developing control of drying-mediated self-assembly to produce crack-free uniform patterns from colloidal fluids.
Highlights
Drying-mediated patterning of colloidal particles is a physical phenomenon that must be understood in inkjet printing technology to obtain crack-free uniform colloidal films
For better control of drying-mediated self-assembly in colloidal suspensions, a deep understanding for hydrodynamics and size dependence of colloid-polymer interactions is increasingly warranted for large-area, highly ordered, and crack-free uniform colloidal films
We demonstrate an experimental study on how deposit patterns emerge from evaporating droplets of colloid-polymer suspensions by varying particle size and polymer concentration
Summary
Drying-mediated patterning of colloidal particles is a physical phenomenon that must be understood in inkjet printing technology to obtain crack-free uniform colloidal films. We find that at a high polymer concentration, the ring-like pattern appears in suspensions with large colloids, contrary to suppression of ring formation in suspensions with small colloids thanks to colloidpolymer interactions We attribute this unexpected reversal behavior to hydrodynamics and size dependence of colloid-polymer interactions. This finding would be very useful in developing control of drying-mediated self-assembly to produce crack-free uniform patterns from colloidal fluids. Our important finding for colloid-polymer suspensions is that at high polymer concentrations, ring-like patterns appear in suspensions with large colloids, contrary to suppression of ring formation in suspensions with small colloids thanks to colloid-polymer interactions This discrepancy is unexpected and important in controlling the final deposit patterns. We discuss the underlying mechanism for the reversal deposit patterns in terms of hydrodynamics and size dependence of colloid-polymer interactions
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