Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Liang, Xichen, Karnaukh, Kseniia M., Cao, Qixuan, Cooper, Marielle, Xu, Hao, Maskiewicz, Ian, Wander, Olivia, de Alaniz, Javier Read, Zhu, Yangying, Luzzatto-Fegiz, Paolo
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.11533
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866913736261894144
author Liang, Xichen
Karnaukh, Kseniia M.
Cao, Qixuan
Cooper, Marielle
Xu, Hao
Maskiewicz, Ian
Wander, Olivia
de Alaniz, Javier Read
Zhu, Yangying
Luzzatto-Fegiz, Paolo
author_facet Liang, Xichen
Karnaukh, Kseniia M.
Cao, Qixuan
Cooper, Marielle
Xu, Hao
Maskiewicz, Ian
Wander, Olivia
de Alaniz, Javier Read
Zhu, Yangying
Luzzatto-Fegiz, Paolo
contents Control of bubble motion is essential for improving efficiency and creating new functionalities in electrochemistry, heat transfer, and biomedical systems. Photoresponsive surfactants enable bubble manipulation by creating surface tension gradients, inducing a photo-Marangoni flow under illumination, without needing any engineered substrates, by leveraging a reversible switch in molecular conformation. Although previous studies have demonstrated bubble manipulation using photo-responsive surfactants, a comprehensive understanding of how fluid behavior is affected by critical parameters, such as bubble size, illumination, photo-switching kinetics, concentration, and adsorption desorption kinetics, remains elusive. Advances have been limited by the complex multiphysics processed involved, and by the fact that earth-bound experiments cannot study bubble photo-Marangoni dynamics without interference from bubble buoyancy and photo-thermal convection. We elucidate the factors enabling fast photo-Marangoni-driven bubble motion, by performing microgravity experiments, enabled by a bespoke photo-surfactant, complemented by a detailed modeling framework. We identify an optimal bubble size for migration, since smaller and larger bubbles incur weaker photo-Marangoni stresses and larger drag, respectively. Surfactants that switch rapidly under illumination drive fast migration, provided their reverse switch (in darkness) is much slower, yet not negligible. These foundational results enable the synthesis of next-generation photo-surfactants and photo-Marangoni manipulation across multiphase fluid systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_11533
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Dynamic Manipulation of Multiphase Fluid in Microgravity Using Photoresponsive Surfactant
Liang, Xichen
Karnaukh, Kseniia M.
Cao, Qixuan
Cooper, Marielle
Xu, Hao
Maskiewicz, Ian
Wander, Olivia
de Alaniz, Javier Read
Zhu, Yangying
Luzzatto-Fegiz, Paolo
Fluid Dynamics
Chemical Physics
Control of bubble motion is essential for improving efficiency and creating new functionalities in electrochemistry, heat transfer, and biomedical systems. Photoresponsive surfactants enable bubble manipulation by creating surface tension gradients, inducing a photo-Marangoni flow under illumination, without needing any engineered substrates, by leveraging a reversible switch in molecular conformation. Although previous studies have demonstrated bubble manipulation using photo-responsive surfactants, a comprehensive understanding of how fluid behavior is affected by critical parameters, such as bubble size, illumination, photo-switching kinetics, concentration, and adsorption desorption kinetics, remains elusive. Advances have been limited by the complex multiphysics processed involved, and by the fact that earth-bound experiments cannot study bubble photo-Marangoni dynamics without interference from bubble buoyancy and photo-thermal convection. We elucidate the factors enabling fast photo-Marangoni-driven bubble motion, by performing microgravity experiments, enabled by a bespoke photo-surfactant, complemented by a detailed modeling framework. We identify an optimal bubble size for migration, since smaller and larger bubbles incur weaker photo-Marangoni stresses and larger drag, respectively. Surfactants that switch rapidly under illumination drive fast migration, provided their reverse switch (in darkness) is much slower, yet not negligible. These foundational results enable the synthesis of next-generation photo-surfactants and photo-Marangoni manipulation across multiphase fluid systems.
title Dynamic Manipulation of Multiphase Fluid in Microgravity Using Photoresponsive Surfactant
topic Fluid Dynamics
Chemical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.11533