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Electric field assisted motion of a mercury droplet.

ABSTRACT: Field-assisted self-assembly, motion, and manipulation of droplets have gained much attention in the past decades. We exhibit an electric field manipulation of the motion of a liquid metal (mercury) droplet submerged in a conductive liquid medium (a solution of sulfuric acid). A mercury droplet moves toward the cathode and its path selection is always given by the steepest descent of the local electric field potential. Utilizing this unique behavior, we present several examples of droplet motions, including maze solving, electro-levitation, and motion on a diverted path between parallel electrodes by controlling the conductivity of the medium. We also present an experimental demonstration of Fermat's principle in a non-optical system, namely a mercury droplet moving along a refracted path between electrodes in a domain having two different conductivities.

SUBMITTER: Hollo G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7854757 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Electric field assisted motion of a mercury droplet.

Holló Gábor G Suematsu Nobuhiko J NJ Ginder Elliott E Lagzi István I

Scientific reports 20210202 1

Field-assisted self-assembly, motion, and manipulation of droplets have gained much attention in the past decades. We exhibit an electric field manipulation of the motion of a liquid metal (mercury) droplet submerged in a conductive liquid medium (a solution of sulfuric acid). A mercury droplet moves toward the cathode and its path selection is always given by the steepest descent of the local electric field potential. Utilizing this unique behavior, we present several examples of droplet motion ...[more]

PMID: 33531526

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Project description:The electrohydrodynamic deformation of an emulsion droplet with a clean and particle-covered interface was explored. Here, the electrohydrodynamic deformation was numerically and experimentally demonstrated under the stimuli of moderate and strong electric fields. The numerical method involves the coupling of the Navier-Stokes equation with the level set equation of interface tracking and the governing equations of so-called leaky dielectric theory. The simulation model developed for a clean interface droplet was then extended to a capsule model for densely particle-covered droplets. The experiments were conducted using various combinations of immiscible oils and particle suspensions while the electric field strength ~105 V/m was generated using a high voltage supply. The experimental images obtained by the camera were post-processed using an in-house image processing code developed on the plat-form of MATLAB software. The results show that particle-free droplets can undergo prolate (deformation in the applied electric field direction) or oblate deformation (deformation that is perpendicular to the direction of the applied electric field) of the droplet interface, whereas the low-conductivity particles can be manipulated at the emulsion interface to form a 'belt', 'helmet' or 'cup' morphologies. A densely particle-covered droplet may not restore to its initial spherical shape due to 'particle jamming' at the interface, resulting in the formation of unique droplet shapes. Densely particle-covered droplets behave like droplets covered with a thin particle sheet, a capsule. The deformation of such droplets is explored using a simulation model under a range of electric capillary numbers (i.e., the ratio of the electric stresses to the capillary stresses acting at the droplet interface). The results obtained are then compared with the theory and experimental findings. It was shown that the proposed simulation model can serve as a tool to predict the deformation/distortion of both the particle-free and the densely particle-covered droplets within the small deformation limit. We believe that this study could provide new findings for the fabrication of complex-shaped species and colloidosomes.

Dataset Information

Electric field assisted motion of a mercury droplet.

Publications

Electric field assisted motion of a mercury droplet.

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