Fingering inside the coffee ring

Abstract

Colloidal droplets including micro- and nanoparticles generally leave a ringlike stain, called the "coffee ring," after evaporation. We show that fingering emerges during evaporation inside the coffee ring, resulting from a bidispersed colloidal mixture of micro- and nanoparticles. Microscopic observations suggest that finger formation is driven by competition between the coffee-ring and Marangoni effects, especially when the inward Marangoni flow is overwhelmed by the outward coffee-ring flow. This finding could help to understand the variety of the final deposition patterns of colloidal droplets. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.87.013003