生物系统中毛细管力的力学在细胞内和细胞间结构的形成中起着关键作用,可以调解组织,形态发生,和生物分子缩合物的稳态。目前的技术可能不允许在细胞内和细胞间尺度下直接和精确测量毛细管力。通过在液-液界面保留液滴,我们发现并研究了理想模型,即,界面液体和大理石,为了理解存在于液体中的液体系统中的一般毛细管力学,例如,生物分子缩合物。界面液体的出乎意料的长聚结时间表明,当液桥的半径接近零时,斯托克斯方程不成立。证明存在第三种惯性有限的粘性体系。此外,可以通过用疏水或两亲性颗粒涂覆液滴表面来阻止从液滴到液体储存器的液体输送,形成界面液体大理石。独特的特点,包括高稳定性,透明度,气体渗透率,和自组装,观察到界面液体大理石。由纳米结构材料的形成引起的相变和分离可以在界面液体大理石内直接观察到,而不需要表面活性剂和搅拌,使它们成为研究界面力学的有用工具。
The mechanics of capillary force in biological systems have critical roles in the formation of the intra- and inter-cellular structures, which may mediate the organization, morphogenesis, and homeostasis of biomolecular condensates. Current techniques may not allow direct and precise measurements of the capillary forces at the intra- and inter-cellular scales. By preserving liquid droplets at the liquid-liquid interface, we have discovered and studied ideal models, i.e., interfacial liquids and marbles, for understanding general capillary mechanics that existed in liquid-in-liquid systems, e.g., biomolecular condensates. The unexpectedly long coalescence time of the interfacial liquids revealed that the Stokes equation does not hold as the radius of the liquid bridge approaches zero, evidencing the existence of a third inertially limited viscous regime. Moreover, liquid transport from a liquid droplet to a liquid reservoir can be prohibited by coating the droplet surface with hydrophobic or amphiphilic particles, forming interfacial liquid marbles. Unique characteristics, including high stability, transparency, gas permeability, and self-assembly, are observed for the interfacial liquid marbles. Phase transition and separation induced by the formation of nanostructured materials can be directly observed within the interfacial liquid marbles without the need for surfactants and agitation, making them useful tools to research the interfacial mechanics.