- Article
- Published:
- Anthony Raykh ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0005-7527-991X1,2,
- Joseph D. Paulsen ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6048-456X3,
- Alex McGlasson1,
- Chaitanya Joshi4,
- Timothy J. Atherton ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7867-38794,
- Hima Nagamanasa Kandula2,
- David A. Hoagland ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9767-05661 &
- …
- Thomas P. Russell ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6384-58261,5,6
Nature Physics (2025)Cite this article
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Subjects
- Colloids
- Fluids
- Self-assembly
- Surfaces, interfaces and thin films
- Wetting
Abstract
Binding particles to an interface between immiscible liquids to reduce interfacial tension underpins the emulsification and phase behaviour of composite liquid systems. Nevertheless, we found that the strong binding and two-dimensional assembly of ferromagnetic particles at a liquid–liquid interface not only suppresses emulsification but also increases interfacial tension. Consequently, the particle-stabilized interface in a cylindrical vessel rapidly and reproducibly adopts the shape of a Grecian urn after vigorous agitation. The suppression of emulsification, the rapid formation of a stable, non-planar equilibrium interface shape and the increase in interfacial tension all originate from attractive in-plane dipolar magnetic interactions between the particles.
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Data availability
All relevant data are included in the paper and the Supplementary Information.
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All code used for analysis and simulation is presented in the Supplementary Information.
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation (Grant Number DMR-2104883) and the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division (Contract Number DE-AC02-05-CH11231) within the Adaptive Interfacial Assemblies Towards Structuring Liquids programme (KCTR16). J.D.P. acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation (Grant Number DMR-2318680). C.J. and T.J.A. acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation (Grant Number ACI-2003820). H.N.K. acknowledges financial support from the University of Massachusetts Amherst for starting faculty support. We thank B. Davidovich and A. Dinsmore of the Physics Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for insightful discussions.
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Authors and Affiliations
Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA
Anthony Raykh,Alex McGlasson,David A. Hoagland&Thomas P. Russell
Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA
Anthony Raykh&Hima Nagamanasa Kandula
Department of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA
Joseph D. Paulsen
Department of Physics, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA
Chaitanya Joshi&Timothy J. Atherton
Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
Thomas P. Russell
Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Aoba, Sendai, Japan
Thomas P. Russell
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- Anthony Raykh
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- Joseph D. Paulsen
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- Chaitanya Joshi
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- Hima Nagamanasa Kandula
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- David A. Hoagland
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Contributions
A.R. performed all the experiments. A.R., D.A.H. and T.P.R. wrote the paper. J.D.P analysed the interface shape. A.M. assisted in developing the idea. C.J. and T.J.A. developed Morpho and performed the simulations of the NP-laden interface. The project began in the laboratories of H.N.K. and T.P.R. D.A.H. and T.P.R. supervised and directed the project. All authors commented on the paper.
Corresponding authors
Correspondence to David A. Hoagland or Thomas P. Russell.
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Supplementary information
Supplementary Information
Calculation and simulation details, Supplementary Fig. 1, discussion, Table 1 and descriptions of Videos 1 and 2
Supplementary Video 1
Agitating a DCM–water mixture containing nickel particles to form DCM droplets dispersed in water. After agitation, these coalesce into container-sized liquid phases separated by an interface shaped like a Grecian urn.
Supplementary Video 2
A Grecian urn interface under a high frequency magnetic field (~50 Hz) visibly rotates under effects of the field. The shadow of a cluster of particles can be seen moving underneath the urn, highlighting the rotation. Of magnitude roughly 50 mT, the magnetic field was applied by a magnetic stir plate
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Raykh, A., Paulsen, J.D., McGlasson, A. et al. Shape-recovering liquids. Nat. Phys. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-02865-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-02865-1
