Breath Figure Assembly on Evaporating Polymer Solution Droplets in Levitation

O’Connell, Róisín A, Sharratt, William N ORCID: 0000-0003-2148-8423 and Cabral, João T (2023) Breath Figure Assembly on Evaporating Polymer Solution Droplets in Levitation Physical Review Letters, 131 (21). 218101-. ISSN 0031-9007, 1079-7114

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Abstract

We investigate the drying of isolated polymer solution droplets, employing acoustic levitation, and demonstrate the spontaneous generation of breath figures (BF) on the resulting polymer particles and capsules (∼5-1000 μm) with controlled surface pore arrays (<1-20 μm). By contrast with supported polymer thin films, the evaporative cooling experienced by suspended droplets suffices to yield ubiquitous BF formation, owing to their thermal insulation and the synchronous condensation and self-assembly of water microdroplets, accompanied by capsule skin formation and kinetic arrest. A simple model describes simultaneously the radius and temperature evolution along the droplet-to-particle transformation, and the scaling of surface pore dimensions, with environmental parameters. The generality of the approach is demonstrated with a range of model polymers, and the coupled roles of solution thermodynamics and droplet environment are shown to permit the facile design of capsules with tunable transport and dissolution kinetics.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	51 Physical Sciences, 40 Engineering, 5103 Classical Physics
Divisions:	Faculty of Science & Engineering > School of Engineering
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	11 Dec 2023 10:53
Last Modified:	16 Jun 2026 20:20
DOI:	10.1103/physrevlett.131.218101
Open Access URL:	https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/Phys...
Related Websites:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3177249
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