The behavior of a nematic liquid crystal at a surfactant-laden interface to an aqueous phase is studied under the condition of homeotropic anchoring. It is shown that with decreasing surfactant concentration the system shifts from surface-enhanced to surface-decreased order, i.e., the behavior changes from complete nematic wetting when the nematic-isotropic phase transition is approached from above to a different wetting behavior below the transition, characterized by a considerably decreased Maier-Saupe order parameter at the interface. The experimental behavior is analyzed within the framework of the Landau-de Gennes theory supplemented by a surface free energy, in which the wetting behavior is controlled by the magnitude of the anchoring strength and the preferred surface order parameter in comparison to the bulk order parameter. The theoretical modeling is able to account for all experimental observations.

Motivated by recent experiments, we numerically study the droplet traffic in microfluidic channels forming an asymmetric loop with a long and a short arm. The loop is connected to an inlet and an outlet channel by two right angled T-junctions. Assuming flat channels, we employ the boundary element method (BEM) to numerically solve the two-dimensional Darcy equation that governs two phase flow in the Hele-Shaw limit. The occurrence of different sorting regimes is summarized in sorting diagrams in terms of droplet size, distance between consecutive droplets in the inlet channel, and loop asymmetry for mobility ratios of the liquid phases larger and smaller than one. For large droplet distances, the traffic is regulated by the ratio of the total hydraulic resistances of the long and short arms. At high droplet densities and below a critical droplet size, droplet-droplet collisions are observed for both mobility ratios.

In this work we present the numerical study of the deformation and the coalescence of two ferrofluid droplets in a uniform applied magnetic field. Employing the boundary element method (BEM), we numerically solve the Darcy equation in a flat microfluidic channel by applying the magnetic normal stress as a boundary condition at the interfaces of droplets. The occurrence of different numerical regimes is summarized in the two phase diagrams scanned by the distance between two droplets, magnetic capillary number, and magnetic permeability. We also show the existence of the critical separation of two droplets where the coalescence of the droplets is inhibited. This critical value is independent of the applied-magnetic-field intensity, although it depends on the permeability ratio of droplet and continuous phase.

No abstract

The prewetting phenomena in a nematic liquid crystal confined to a droplet embedded in a spherical solid surface are discussed. This paper is based on Landau-de Gennes theory and Nobili-Durand surface energy. By using a Maxwell construction, we find that the first-order boundary-layer transition inside of droplet which vanishes completely below a critical radius R c when bulk nematic isotropic transition temperature is approached from above. We obtain a narrow temperature interval above the bulk nematic-isotropic phase transition which corresponds to nematic boundary layer inside of droplet. The interval length depends on surface potential and droplet radius. We also find that there is no critical radius for boundary transition when the nematic-isotropic transition temperature is approached from below.