Work

Solubility Enhanced Surfactant-Induced Flow in Air-Liquid-Air Sheets

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Liquid interfaces appear throughout nature and engineering and are typically contaminated by surface active agents (surfactants), which are characterized by a wide range of solubility. We demonstrate that solubility enhances by an order of magnitude surfactant-induced flow in air-liquid-air films, in contrast to previously studied geometries where solubility dampens the flow. The enhancement is described by a single parameter comparing the depletion length to the film thickness. Our experiments are well described by an asymptotic theory of the Navier-Stokes equations, including surfactant kinetics.

Source: Physical Review Letters

DOI: 10.1103/rbyz-h78n

Authors: Jun Eshima, Tristan Aurégan, Emmanuel Villermaux, Howard A. Stone, Luc Deike