title: Spontaneous particle transport through a triple-fluid phase boundary.
abstract: We investigate the spontaneous transport of a single particle through an air-water-oil triple phase boundary that is formed by placing a thin oil lens at an air-water interface. We find two distinct transition regimes: a particle initially accelerates upon its adsorption to the air-water-oil triple phase boundary from the air-water interface; subsequently, the particle decelerates after spontaneously detaching from the triple phase boundary. In the first stage, which we call the capillarity regime, the difference in the particle attachment energy to the three fluid-fluid interfaces accounts for the observed initial acceleration. Once it detaches from the air-oil interface and resides solely at the oil-water interface, the particle decelerates due to viscous drag; hence, we call this phase the relaxation regime. We show that the shape of oil lens as well as the size of the particles has a significant influence on the dynamics of particle transport through the triple-fluid phase boundary.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, United States.
authors.forename: Bum Jun
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Daeyeon
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000388:Air; D009795:Octanes / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D013499:Surface Properties; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D009795:Octanes; D014867:Water; C026728:octane