The vortex-driven dynamics of droplets within droplets

A. Tiribocchi (), A. Montessori, M. Lauricella, F. Bonaccorso, S. Succi, S. Aime, M. Milani and D. A. Weitz
Additional contact information
A. Tiribocchi: Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia
A. Montessori: Istituto per le Applicazioni del Calcolo CNR
M. Lauricella: Istituto per le Applicazioni del Calcolo CNR
F. Bonaccorso: Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia
S. Succi: Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia
S. Aime: Harvard University
M. Milani: Universitá degli Studi di Milano
D. A. Weitz: Harvard University

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Understanding the fluid-structure interaction is crucial for an optimal design and manufacturing of soft mesoscale materials. Multi-core emulsions are a class of soft fluids assembled from cluster configurations of deformable oil-water double droplets (cores), often employed as building-blocks for the realisation of devices of interest in bio-technology, such as drug-delivery, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Here, we study the physics of multi-core emulsions flowing in microfluidic channels and report numerical evidence of a surprisingly rich variety of driven non-equilibrium states (NES), whose formation is caused by a dipolar fluid vortex triggered by the sheared structure of the flow carrier within the microchannel. The observed dynamic regimes range from long-lived NES at low core-area fraction, characterised by a planetary-like motion of the internal drops, to short-lived ones at high core-area fraction, in which a pre-chaotic motion results from multi-body collisions of inner drops, as combined with self-consistent hydrodynamic interactions. The onset of pre-chaotic behavior is marked by transitions of the cores from one vortex to another, a process that we interpret as manifestations of the system to maximize its entropy by filling voids, as they arise dynamically within the capsule.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20364-0

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