Abstract
Surfactants have been widely studied and used in controlling droplet evaporation. In this work, we observe and study the crystallization of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) within an evaporating glycerol-water mixture droplet. The crystallization is induced by the preferential evaporation of water, which decreases the solubility of SDS in the mixture. As a consequence, the crystals shield the droplet surface and cease the evaporation. The universality of the evaporation characteristics for a range of droplet sizes is revealed by applying a diffusion model, extended by Raoult's law. To describe the nucleation and growth of the crystals, we employ the 2-dimensional crystallization model of Weinberg [J. Non-Cryst. Solids 1991, 134, 116]. The results of this model compare favorably to our experimental results. Our findings may inspire the community to reconsider the role of high concentration of surfactants in a multicomponent evaporation system.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 7545-7552 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Langmuir |
Volume | 36 |
Issue number | 26 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 7 Jul 2020 |
Funding
We thank Shuai Li for valuable suggestions on the manuscript. This work is part of an Industrial Partnership Programme (IPP) of The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). This research programme is cofinanced by Canon Production Printing Netherlands B.V., University of Twente, and Eindhoven University of Technology. D.L. gratefully acknowledges support by his ERC-Advanced Grant DDD (project number 740479).
Funders | Funder number |
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European Union's Horizon 2020 - Research and Innovation Framework Programme | 740479 |