title: Universal buckling kinetics in drying nanoparticle-laden droplets on a hydrophobic substrate.
abstract: We provide a comprehensive physical description of the vaporization, self-assembly, agglomeration, and buckling kinetics of sessile nanofluid droplets pinned on a hydrophobic substrate. We have deciphered five distinct regimes of the droplet life cycle. Regimes I-III consists of evaporation-induced preferential agglomeration that leads to the formation of a unique dome-shaped inhomogeneous shell with a stratified varying-density liquid core. Regime IV involves capillary-pressure-initiated shell buckling and stress-induced shell rupture. Regime V marks rupture-induced cavity inception and growth. We demonstrate through scaling arguments that the growth of the cavity (which controls the final morphology or structure) can be described by a universal function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India-560012.
authors.forename: Lalit
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bansal
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India-560012.
authors.forename: Ankur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Miglani
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India-560012.
authors.forename: Saptarshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Basu
mesh_terms: D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D007700:Kinetics; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D012997:Solvents / Q000737:chemistry; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D014835:Volatilization
chemical_list: D012997:Solvents