5 research outputs found
Evaporative Deposition Patterns Revisited: Spatial Dimensions of the Deposit
A model accounting for finite spatial dimensions of the deposit patterns in
the evaporating sessile drops of colloidal solution on a plane substrate is
proposed. The model is based on the assumption that the solute particles occupy
finite volume and hence these dimensions are of the steric origin. Within this
model, the geometrical characteristics of the deposition patterns are found as
functions of the initial concentration of the solute, the initial geometry of
the drop, and the time elapsed from the beginning of the drying process. The
model is solved analytically for small initial concentrations of the solute and
numerically for arbitrary initial concentrations of the solute. The agreement
between our theoretical results and the experimental data is demonstrated, and
it is shown that the observed dependence of the deposit dimensions on the
experimental parameters can indeed be attributed to the finite dimensions of
the solute particles. These results are universal and do not depend on any free
or fitting parameters; they are important for understanding the evaporative
deposition and may be useful for creating controlled deposition patterns.Comment: 34 pages, 14 figures, LaTeX; submitted to Physical Review