title: Trapping energy of a spherical particle on a curved liquid interface.
abstract: We derive the trapping energy of a colloidal particle at a liquid interface with contact angle θ and principal curvatures c1 and c2. The boundary conditions at the particle surface are significantly simplified by introducing the shift ε of its vertical position. We discuss the undulating contact line and the curvature-induced lateral forces for a single particle and a pair of nearby particles. The single-particle trapping energy is found to decrease with the square of both the total curvature c1+c2 and the anisotropy c1-c2. In the case of non-uniform curvatures, the resulting lateral force pushes particles toward more strongly curved regions.
authors.affiliation: LOMA, Université de Bordeaux & CNRS, 351 cours de la Libération, 33405 Talence, France.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Léandri
authors.forename: Alois
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Würger