Interface Science and Technology

Phoretic Motions of Liquid Droplets: A Theoretical Analysis provides a detailed description of the fundamentals of the electrostatics and electrokinetics of various kinds of droplets: dielectric droplets, conducting droplets such as liquid metal droplets, polymeric liquid droplets and the implications they have for their broad practical applications. It is crucial to fully understand the underlying electrokinetic mechanisms before any meaningful practical applications of liquid droplets can be launched successfully. This is the first book to directly address phoretic motion of droplets; previously there has only been brief mention in texts mostly about solid particles, on which there is much more literature. Droplets of different kinds have different applications in practice. For instance, conducting droplets like liquid metal droplets have an inherent advantage in drug delivery over liposomes of dielectric droplets in terms of chemiphoresis, although both are widely used in drug delivery and micro/nanofluidic operations, among other practical applications. The book provides insights and guidelines for design engineers in drug delivery even in the fabrication stage of the droplets carrying therapeutic chemicals. Moreover, it is helpful in analyzing data for experimental researchers as well. For instance, a droplet filled with dielectric materials may not behave electrokinetically like a dielectric droplet under certain circumstances in practice, as might be expected by experimentalists. Phoretic Motions of Liquid Droplets is written for researchers, industry engineers, and graduate and postdoc students in the field of colloidal and interface science and technology who are working on colloidal physics aspects and focused on electrokinetics, primarily from a chemical engineering, biomedical and biochemical engineering background.