Solutal Marangoni flows of miscible liquids drive transport without surface contamination

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-1-2017

Abstract

Mixing and spreading of different liquids are omnipresent in nature, life and technology, such as oil pollution on the sea, estuaries, food processing, cosmetic and beverage industries, lab-on-a-chip devices, and polymer processing. However, the mixing and spreading mechanisms for miscible liquids remain poorly characterized. Here, we show that a fully soluble liquid drop deposited on a liquid surface remains as a static lens without immediately spreading and mixing, and simultaneously a Marangoni-driven convective flow is generated, which are counterintuitive results when two liquids have different surface tensions. To understand the dynamics, we develop a theoretical model to predict the finite spreading time and length scales, the Marangoni-driven convection flow speed, and the finite timescale to establish the quasi-steady state for the Marangoni flow. The fundamental understanding of this solutal Marangoni flow may enable driving bulk flows and constructing an effective drug delivery and surface cleaning approach without causing surface contamination by immiscible chemical species.

Identifier

85032685461 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Nature Physics

External Full Text Location

https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys4214

e-ISSN

17452481

ISSN

17452473

First Page

1105

Last Page

1110

Issue

11

Volume

13

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS