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Unraveling hydrogel resistance to particle deposition: Adhesion versus elastohydrodynamic lift

Aleksandr Leontev1,2,*, Axel Rosenhahn3, and Viatcheslav Freger4,†

  • *Contact author: 20259420al@scut.edu.cn
  • †Contact author: vfreger@technion.ac.il
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023021 – Published 7 April, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/wbrn-979m

Abstract

Soft hydrogels are widely used as antifouling coatings because they strongly suppress deposition of particles, cells, and microorganisms from flowing aqueous suspensions, yet the physical origin of this resistance remains unclear, as several near-wall phenomena occur simultaneously over rapidly changing length scales. Here, we combine deposition kinetics, single-particle trajectory tracking, and independent measurements of adhesion dynamics to identify the key kinetic barrier. Using polystyrene microbeads depositing onto a submicron poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogel coating in a parallel-plate flow cell, we examine how the near-wall deceleration of depositing particles during the last few seconds preceding arrest compares with the one expected for particles rolling in contact with the surface and decelerating through adhesive force maturing over time. Estimating the latter using a braking model, derived from the adhesion dynamics extracted from AFM force spectroscopy using identical colloidal probes and surface, predicts immobilization of several orders of magnitude faster than observed. When further combined with attachment rate constants deduced from the variation of the deposition rate along the channel and their ionic-strength dependence, this disagreement rules out rolling-in-contact scenario. This implies that most particles stay hovering above the surface, separated from the hydrogel by a thin fluid gap maintained by a repulsive force. We further rule out as such force both the electric double-layer interactions, attractive in the present system, and the inertial lift, as it is negligible at the present shear rates. This points to elastohydrodynamic lift (EHL)—arising from pressure-deformation coupling in lubrication flow amplified by large compliance of the hydrogel—as the only plausible barrier force. Using mechanical parameters measured by AFM and established EHL scaling, we show that EHL can indeed impose a sufficient kinetic barrier at a few tens of nanometers from the surface, cutting off attractive adhesion forces and suppressing deposition.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023021– Published 7 April, 2026
  • Received 8 June 2025
  • Accepted 25 February 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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