How Rigid Rods Self‐Assemble at Curved Surfaces

Abstract

I'm forever blowing bubbles: Superstable foams comprising air bubbles stabilized by modified, rigid CaCO3 rods have a bimodal bubble-size distribution. The very high stability and stiffness of the rod-stabilized bubbles means that their spherical shape is retained when dried on glass substrates and that they could be ordered into 2D binary colloidal crystals, with large bubbles at the bottom and small bubbles filling the spaces in between (see picture).