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Droplet Clusters: Exploring the Phase Space of Soft Mesoscale Atoms
Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 188302 – Published 6 May, 2015
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.188302
Abstract
We report three-dimensional structures—mesoscale “atoms”—comprising up to aqueous droplets compressed in a liquid shell. In contrast to hard colloids that self-assemble into structures unique for a given , we observe multiple metastable states. We attribute this unexpected richness of metastable structures to the deformability of the cores that introduces irreducible many-body interactions between the droplets. These exotic, often highly anisotropic, structures are locally stable. The structures displaying highly nonoptimum packing—and hence interfacial energy much higher than that of the lowest-energy state—exhibit finite energy barriers that prevent restructuring and relaxation of energy.
Corrections
25 March, 2016
Focus
Oil-Water Droplets Form Surprising Structures
Water droplets can self-assemble into a range of structures inside larger drops of oil, with potential uses in targeted drug delivery and biological tissue engineering.
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