Capture probabilities in pair-wise collisions of emulsion drops - measurement and application : report submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Doctoral Degree (PhD Course) in the Biophysics and Soft Matter Group, School of Fundamental Sciences, Massey University, New Zealand

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Date
2019
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Massey University
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Abstract
This project seeks to measure and model particle interactions under different environmental conditions with a view to being able to control these interactions. The interactions of emulsion drops will be investigated using an optical tweezer set-up and the results considered in the context of measurements of the zeta potential of the emulsion. Specifically, how the zeta potential of emulsion drops changes with the physio-chemical environment (pH and ionic environment) is captured in a concise mathematical model, the effects of depletion interactions are considered, and a novel experimental procedure is developed to allow hundreds of pairwise stickiness measurements to be taken in an automated fashion. The major research questions are: 1. Is it possible to address the effects of changes in environmental conditions which are not easily quantifiable with a pragmatic capture probability or pairwise "stickiness" measured at a single particle level? 2. Can we link these pairwise measurements to induced changes in the surface properties and understand how they yield the rheological behaviour of the system?
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Emulsions, Drops, Zeta potential, Collisions (Physics), Mathematical models
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