What is it about?
Our study opens a new avenue to characterize the adhesion between liquid-bridged soft particles. A novel nanomechanical tester has been developed to measure the force-displacement curves at sub-micro resolutions, while the JKR theory has been extended to quantify the adhesion energy of solid-liquid-vapor interface for the first time. This new approach has revealed the viscoelasticity of the gel particle has influences on the mechanical deformation but not on the adhesion, which have not been reported previously in literature. Therefore, our letter will be of great interest for the researchers in interfacial science of soft condensed matters to study the mechanics and adhesion of gel microparticles.
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Why is it important?
This work has two distinctive merits that make it ideal for publication in the Journal. First, it is technologically timely. With numerous emerging soft colloidal systems such as polymeric colloids and gels, as well as micro-/nano-materials, the work will answer the urgent needs in dealing with capillary adhesion in these new materials. Second, this article captures a broad interest as our novel experiment validates of a well-known theory of contact mechanics and adhesion in interfacial science
Perspectives
These new findings are essential for developing techniques to quantitatively characterize capillary adhesion of soft particulate materials and potentially to improve the material performance in their applications.
Dr Isaac LIU
University of Warwick
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Capillary force in adhesive contact between hydrogel microspheres, Colloids and Surfaces A Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, February 2021, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfa.2020.125828.
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