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Response of lipid bilayers to external mechanical stimuli is an active area of research with implications for fundamental and synthetic cell biology. However, there is a lack of tools for systematically imposing mechanical strains and non-invasively mapping out interfacial (membrane) stress distributions on lipid bilayers. In this article, we report a miniature platform to manipulate model cell membranes in the form of droplet interface bilayers (DIBs), and non-invasively measure spatio-temporally resolved interfacial stresses using two photon fluorescence lifetime imaging of an interfacially active molecular flipper (Flipper-TR). We established the effectiveness of the developed framework by investigating interfacial stresses accompanying three key processes associated with DIBs: thin film drainage between lipid monolayer coated droplets, bilayer formation, and bilayer separation. Interestingly, the measurements also revealed fundamental aspects of DIBs including the existence of a radially decaying interfacial stress distribution post bilayer formation, and the simultaneous build up and decay of stress respectively at the bilayer corner and center during bilayer separation. Finally, utilizing interfacial rheology measurements and MD simulations, we also reveal that the tested molecular flipper is sensitive to membrane fluidity that changes with interfacial stress - expanding the scientific understanding of how molecular motors sense stress., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures

Phospholipid bilayers are a major component of the cell membrane that is in contact with physiological electrolyte solutions including salt ions. The effect of salt on the phospholipid bilayer mechanics is an active research area due to its implications for cellular function and viability. In this manuscript we utilize droplet interface bilayers(DIBs), a bilayer formed artificially between two aqueous droplets, to unravel the bilayer formation and separation mechanics with a combination of experiments and numerical modelling under the effects of K$^+$, Na$^+$, Li$^+$, Ca$^{2+}$ and Mg$^{2+}$. Initially, we measured the interfacial tension and the interfacial complex viscosity of lipid monolayers at a flat oil-aqueous interface and show that both properties are sensitive to salt concentration, ion size and valency. Subsequently, we measured DIB formation rates and show that the characteristic bilayer formation velocity scales with the ratio of the interfacial tension to the interfacial viscosity. Next, we subjected the system to a step strain by separating the drops in a stepwise manner. By tracking the evolution of the bilayer contact angle and radius, we show that salt influences the bilayer separation mechanics including the decay of the contact angle, the decay of the bilayer radius and the corresponding relaxation time. Finally, we explain the salt effect on the observed bilayer separation by means of a mathematical model comprising of the Young-Laplace equation and an evolution equation., Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2010.13237

Hypothesis: Although wetting agents have been developed to limit tear film dewetting over contact lenses, systematic analyses correlating wetting agents properties to mechanisms of the tear film destabilization are not readily available. Clarifying destabilization characteristics across key physio-chemical variables will provide a rational basis for identifying optimal wetting agents. Experiments: We employ an in-house, in vitro platform to comprehensively evaluate drainage and dewetting dynamics of five wetting agents across seventeen different formulations and two model tear film solutions: phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and artificial tear solution (ATS). We consider the film thickness evolution, film thickness at breakup, dewetted front propagation, and develop correlations to contact angle to compare the samples. Findings: Zwitterionic wetting agents effectively stabilize the tear film by reducing the film thickness at the onset of dewetting, and delaying dewetted region propagation across the lens. Furthermore, tuning wetting agent surface concentrations in binary mixtures can enhance wetting characteristics. Finally, despite disparities in wetting agent molecular properties, the time to dewet $50\%$ of the lens scales linearly with the product of the receding contact angle and contact angle hysteresis. Hence, we fundamentally establish the importance of minimizing both the absolute contact angle values and contact angle hysteresis for effective wetting performance., Comment: 12 Pages, 5 Figures, Key words: Contact lens, tear film dewetting, interferometry, dynamic contact angles

Investigation into the physics of foaming has traditionally been focused on aqueous systems. Non-aqueous foams, by contrast, are not well understood, but have been the subject of a recent surge in interest motivated by the need to manage foaming across industrial applications. In this review, we provide a comprehensive discussion of the current state-of-the-art methods for characterizing non-aqueous foams, with a critical evaluation of the advantages and limitations of each. Subsequently we present a concise overview of the current understanding of the mechanisms and methods used for stabilizing and destabilizing non-aqueous foams. We conclude the review by discussing open questions to guide future investigations., Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, invited submission Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science

Our work focuses on an experimental investigation of droplets freely rising through a miscible, more viscous liquid. We report observations of water droplets rising through glycerol and corn syrup, which are common household ingredients. Immediately after the drops are formed, they take on prolate shapes and rise with constant velocity without expanding in size. However, after a critical time predicted by our theory, the drops continually grow into oblate spheroids, and as they mix with the ambient liquid, their volume increases and their velocity decreases, eventually following power laws. We present scaling relations that explain the main observed phenomena. However, the power laws governing the rate of the volumetric increase and the velocity decrease, namely $t^{1/2}$ and $t^{-1/2}$, respectively, remain points of further investigation., Comment: Submitted to Physics of Fluids

Droplet interface bilayers are a convenient model system to study the physio-chemical properties of phospholipid bilayers, the major component of the cell membrane. The mechanical response of these bilayers to various external mechanical stimuli is an active area of research due to implications for cellular viability and development of artificial cells. In this manuscript we characterize the separation mechanics of droplet interface bilayers under step strain using a combination of experiments and numerical modeling. Initially, we show that the bilayer surface energy can be obtained using principles of energy conservation. Subsequently, we subject the system to a step strain by separating the drops in a step wise manner, and track the evolution of the bilayer contact angle and radius. The relaxation time of the bilayer contact angle and radius, along with the decay magnitude of the bilayer radius were observed to increase with each separation step. By analyzing the forces acting on the bilayer and the rate of separation, we show that the bilayer separates primarily through the peeling process with the dominant resistance to separation coming from viscous dissipation associated with corner flows. Finally, we explain the intrinsic features of the observed bilayer separation by means of a mathematical model comprising of the Young-Laplace equation and an evolution equation. We believe that the reported experimental and numerical results extend the scientific understanding of lipid bilayer mechanics, and that the developed experimental and numerical tools offer a convenient platform to study the mechanics of other types of bilayers., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, under review

The physics of foams and emulsions has traditionally been studied using bulk foam/emulsion tests and single film platforms such as the Scheludko cell. Recently there has been a renewed interest in a third class of techniques that we term as single bubble/drop tests, which employ isolated whole bubbles and drops to probe the characteristics of foams and emulsions. Single bubble and drop techniques provide a convenient framework for investigating a number of important characteristics of foams and emulsions, including the rheology, stabilization mechanisms, and rupture dynamics. In this review we provide a comprehensive discussion of the various single bubble/drop platforms and the associated experimental measurement protocols including the construction of coalescence time distributions, visualization of the thin film profiles and characterization of the interfacial rheological properties. Subsequently, we summarize the recent developments in foam and emulsion science with a focus on the results obtained through single bubble/drop techniques. We conclude the review by presenting important venues for future research., Comment: Invited review submitted to ACS Advances in Colloids and Interface Science (28 pages, 11 figures)

Surfactants in aqueous solutions self-assemble in the presence of salt, to form long, flexible worm-like micelles (WLM). WLM solutions exhibit viscoelastic properties and are used in many applications, such as for cosmetic products, drag reduction and hydraulic fracturing. The dynamics of bubbles in WLM solutions are important considerations for the stability of many of these products. In this manuscript, we investigate the thin film drainage dynamics leading up to the coalescence of bubbles in WLM solutions. The salts and surfactant type and concentrations were chosen so as to have the viscoelastic properties of the tested WLM solutions span over two orders of magnitude in moduli and relaxation times. The various stages in drainage and coalescence - the formation of a thick region at the apex - a dimple, the thinning and washout of this dimple and the final stages of drainage before rupture, are modified by the viscoelasticity of the wormlike micellar solutions. As a result of the unique viscoelastic properties of the WLM solutions, we also observe a number of interesting fluid dynamic phenomena during the drainage process including elastic recoil, thin film ripping and single-step terminal drainage., Comment: Preprint submitted to Langmuir. 9 pages and 5 figures

Dynamic thin film interferometry is a technique used to non-invasively characterize the thickness of thin liquid films. Recovering the underlying thickness from the captured interferograms, unconditionally and automatically is still an open problem. Here we report a compact setup employing a snapshot hyperspectral camera and the related algorithms for the automated determination of thickness profiles of dynamic thin liquid films. The proposed technique is shown to recover film thickness profiles to within 100 nm of accuracy as compared to those profiles reconstructed through the manual color matching process. Subsequently, we discuss the characteristics and advantages of hyperspectral interferometry including the increased robustness against imagining noise as well as the ability to perform thickness reconstruction without considering the absolute light intensity information., Comment: Under review in Scientific Reports (8 pages, 5 figures)

Understanding the dynamics of liquid films that make up bubbles is of practical and fundamental importance. Practically, this understanding is crucial for tuning bubble stability, while fundamentally, thin films are an excellent platform to study 2D flows. Here we study the spatiotemporal film thickness dynamics of bubbles subjected to evaporation driven Marangoni flows. Initially, we demonstrate how bubble stability can be dramatically tuned with the help of evaporation driven flows. Subsequently, we reveal that the spatial symmetry of thickness profiles evolves non-monotonically with the volatile species concentration, with profiles being axisymmetric at the two extremes in concentration. At $50\%$ concentration, spatial symmetry breaks down and thickness fluctuations are chaotic everywhere in space, with the fluctuation statistics becoming spatially invariant and ergodic. For these cases, the power spectrum of thickness fluctuations follow the Kolmogorov $-5/3$ scaling - a first such demonstration for forcing by evaporation. These results along with the reported setup provide an excellent framework to further investigate 2D chaotic flows., Comment: Under review in Nature communications; 11 pages, 6 figures

Soap bubbles occupy the rare position of delighting and fascinating both young children and scientific minds alike. Sir Isaac Newton, Joseph Plateau, Carlo Marangoni, and Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, not to mention countless others, have discovered remarkable results in optics, molecular forces and fluid dynamics from investigating this seemingly simple system. We present here a compilation of curiosity-driven experiments that systematically investigate the surface flows on a rising soap bubble. From childhood experience, we are familiar with the vibrant colors and mesmerizing display of chaotic flows on the surface of a soap bubble. These flows arise due to surface tension gradients, also known as Marangoni flows or instabilities. In Figure 1, we show the surprising effect of layering multiple instabilities on top of each other, highlighting that unexpected new phenomena are still waiting to be discovered, even in the simple soap bubble., Comment: To be published in Physics Review Fluids as an invited article in support of Milton van Dyke award winning video submission at the Gallery of Fluid Motion, APS Division of Fluid Dynamics in 2015. For video, see http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/APS.DFD.2015.GFM.V0040

Thin liquid films are central to everyday life. They are ubiquitous in modern technology (pharmaceuticals, coatings), consumer products (foams, emulsions) and also serve vital biological functions (tear film of the eye, pulmonary surfactants in the lung). A common feature in all these examples is the presence of surface-active molecules at the air-liquid interface. Though they form only molecularly-thin layers, these surfactants produce complex surface stresses on the free surface, which have important consequences for the dynamics and stability of the underlying thin liquid film. Here we conduct simple thinning experiments to explore the fundamental mechanisms that allow the surfactant molecules to slow the gravity-driven drainage of the underlying film. We present a simple model that works for both soluble and insoluble surfactant systems. We show that surfactants with finite surface rheology influence bulk flow through viscoelastic interfacial stresses, while surfactants with inviscid surfaces achieve stability through opposing surface-tension induced Marangoni flows.

We report surface shear rheological measurements on dense insoluble monolayers of micron sized colloidal spheres at the oil/water interface and of the protein $\beta$-lactoglobulin at the air/water surface. As expected, the elastic modulus shows a changing character in the response, from a viscous liquid towards an elastic solid as the concentration is increased, and a change from elastic to viscous as the shear frequency is increased. Surprisingly, above a critical packing fraction, the complex elastic modulus curves measured at different concentrations can be superposed to form a master curve, by rescaling the frequency and the magnitude of the modulus. This provides a powerful tool for the extrapolation of the material response function outside the experimentally accessible frequency range. The results are discussed in relation to recent experiments on bulk systems, and indicate that these two dimensional monolayers should be regarded as being close to a soft glass state., Comment: to appear in PRL

We used scattering dichroism to study the combined effects of viscous and magnetic forces on the dynamics of dipolar chains induced in magnetorheological suspensions under rotating magnetic fields. We found that the chains adjust their size to rotate synchronously with the field but with a constant phase lag. Two different behaviors for the dichroism (proportional to the total number of aggregated particles) and the phase lag are found below or above a critical frequency. We obtained a linear dependence of the critical frequency with the square of the magnetization and with the inverse of the viscosity. The Mason number (ratio of viscous to magnetic forces) governs the dynamics. Therefore there is a critical Mason number below which, the dichroism remains almost constant and above which, the rotation of the field prevents the particle aggregation process from taken place being this the mechanism responsible for the decrease of dichroism. Our experimental results have been corroborated with particle dynamics simulations showing good agreement., Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, submitted to JCIS