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Theory of Shape-Shifting Droplets

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Authors

Haas, PA 
Goldstein, RE 
Smoukov, SK 
Cholakova, D 
Denkov, N 

Abstract

Recent studies of cooled oil emulsion droplets uncovered transformations into a host of flattened shapes with straight edges and sharp corners, driven by a partial phase transition of the bulk liquid phase. Here, we explore theoretically the simplest geometric competition between this phase transition and surface tension in planar polygons and recover the observed sequence of shapes and their statistics in qualitative agreement with experiments. Extending the model to capture some of the three-dimensional structure of the droplets, we analyze the evolution of protrusions sprouting from the vertices of the platelets and the topological transition of a puncturing planar polygon.

Description

Keywords

0306 Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural)

Journal Title

Physical Review Letters

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0031-9007
1079-7114

Volume Title

118

Publisher

American Physical Society
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/M017982/1)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/N509620/1)
EPSRC (1345122)
European Research Council (280078)
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation (692146)
This work was supported in part by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (P. A. H.), an Established Career Fellowship from the EPSRC (R. E. G.), and the European Research Council (Grant EMATTER No. 280078 to S. K. S.).