Lauga Eric, Brenner Michael P
Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Phys Rev Lett. 2004 Dec 3;93(23):238301. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.238301. Epub 2004 Dec 1.
Colloidal particles absorbed at the interface of a liquid droplet arrange into unique packings during slow evaporation [V.N. Manoharan et al., Science 301, 483 (2003)]. We present a numerical and theoretical analysis of the packing selection problem. The selection of a unique packing arises almost entirely from geometrical constraints during the drying.