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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Joshua Saczek, Dr Koren Murphy, Dr Vladimir Zivkovic, Dr Stevin PramanaORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Liquid marbles are soft matter objects characterised by a liquid droplet enclosed within a hydrophobic particle coating, preventing wetting. This distinctive structure serves as active sites for solid-liquid-gas reactions. However, the impact the chosen coating material has on liquid marble stability, particularly regarding the number of coating layers and material wetting, remains uncertain. There is a need for a modelling approach to predict the overall lifetime considering these coating characteristics. This study reveals that for PTFE liquid marbles evaporating at ambient temperature, smaller coating particles (250 nm) extend their lifetime by forming a multilayered coating. Conversely, using larger particle sizes (200 μm) results in the formation of monolayer liquid marbles with shorter lifetimes than their equivalent naked droplets. Additionally, a higher number of particle layers and a larger contact angle generally enhance the liquid marble's lifetime. For multilayered liquid marbles comprised of smaller particles (250 nm), the particle contact angle is found to have a more significant impact than the number of layers on lifetime extension, whereas the opposite holds true for larger particle sizes (20 μm). A modelling approach using the reactor engineering method for liquid marble evaporation demonstrates excellent agreement with experimental results, yielding an R2 of 0.996. The implementation of this specific model, capable of assessing lifetime across various physical modifications, will enhance our understanding of liquid marble properties before their application in biomedical, microreactor, and green technologies.
Author(s): Saczek J, Murphy K, Zivkovic V, Putranto A, Pramana SS
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Soft Matter
Year: 2024
Volume: 20
Issue: 29
Pages: 5822-5835
Online publication date: 08/07/2024
Acceptance date: 07/07/2024
Date deposited: 08/07/2024
ISSN (print): 1744-683X
ISSN (electronic): 1744-6848
Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
URL: https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SM00478G
DOI: 10.1039/D4SM00478G
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