Ring-shaped colloidal patterns on saline water films

Hypothesis: Electrostatically stabilised colloidal particles destabilise when brought into contact with cations causing the particles to aggregate in clusters. When a drop with stabilised colloidal partices is deposited on a liquid film containing cations the delicate balance between the fluid-mechanical and physicochemical properties of the system governs the spreading dynamics and formation of colloidal particle clusters. Experiments: High-speed imaging and digital holographic microscopy were used to characterise the spreading process. Findings: We reveal that a spreading colloidal drop evolves into a ring-shaped pattern after it is deposited on a thin saline water film. Clustered colloidal particles aggregate into larger trapezoidally-shaped ‘supraclusters’. Using a simple model we show that the trapezoidal shape of the supraclusters is determined by the transition from inertial spreading dynamics to Marangoni flow. These results may be of interest to applications such as wet-on-wet inkjet printing, where particle destabilisation and hydrodynamic flow coexist.