Anisotropic colloids through non-trivial buckling

Catherine Quilliet (1, 2) , Carmen Zoldesi (2) , Christophe Riera (3) , Alfons van Blaaderen (2) , Arnout Imhof (2)

1 LSP - Laboratoire de Spectrométrie Physique
2 SCM - Soft Condensed Matter
3 DEAS

We present a study on buckling of colloidal particles, including experimental, theoretical and numerical developments. Oil-filled thin shells prepared by emulsion templating show buckling in mixtures of water and ethanol, due to dissolution of the core in the external medium. This leads to conformations with a single depression, either axisymmetric or polygonal depending on the geometrical features of the shells. These conformations could be theoretically and/or numerically reproduced in a model of homogeneous spherical thin shells with bending and stretching elasticity, submitted to an isotropic external pressure.

Mots clés: shrinking; spherical; thin plate; shells; colloids; evaporation; postbuckling; cap; external stress; shell; colloid; elasticity; buckling; Föppl-von Karman; Poisson ratio; deformation; shape; bending; stretching; simulation; Surface Evolver; wrinkles

Domaines: Matière Molle [cond-mat.soft]

Catherine Quilliet, Carmen Zoldesi, Christophe Riera, Alfons van Blaaderen, Arnout Imhof. Anisotropic colloids through non-trivial buckling. European Journal of Physics, 2009, 27 (1), pp.13. ⟨10.1140/epje/i2007-10365-2⟩. ⟨hal-00243086v4⟩