RESUMO
We probe the drainage and imbibition dynamics of foams in which the continuous aqueous phase is a transient gel-like network. To produce these foams, we provide a new method - a PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) solution is first foamed and then a cross-linker, Borax, is added, which binds reversibly to the PVA chains. The resulting foams are ultra-stable-over a month. We find that the typical time for gravitational drainage of the continuous phase can be slowed down from hours to several weeks by tuning the Borax concentration. We show that the Borax concentration controls both the bulk viscosity of the continuous phase and the surface viscosity of the air-water interfaces. From these results we suggest that the PVA molecules adsorbed at the bubble interfaces are highly cross-linked by the Borax molecules. We find that the capillary rise of a dyed liquid into these foams is orders of magnitude faster than the drainage flow, meaning that these foams can quickly absorb liquids. These results show that these foams could be used to clean or decontaminate surfaces covered with liquid wastes. Indeed we show that the PVA-Borax foam can easily be spread on a surface, absorb a liquid without destabilizing and be dried afterward to recover the waste.
RESUMO
Foams made with polymer hydrogels can be used in a variety of applications, such as scaffolds for biomedical applications or decontamination processes. However, from a practical point of view, it is difficult to introduce bubbles into viscous or viscoelastic fluids and to produce large volumes of hydrogel foams. In the present article, we investigate the foaming process of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/borax transient hydrogels, where PVA chains reversibly bind to borax molecules. In a previous article, we showed that foams obtained with PVA/borax mixtures are highly stable because of both high interfacial and bulk viscosities and can be used to quickly absorb liquids, which make them suitable for detergency or decontamination processes. To produce these foams, we use a two-step foaming process which consists in first shearing a PVA solution to obtain a PVA foam and second adding borax to the PVA foam under continuous shearing. The obtained PVA/borax foams are stable for weeks. In this study, we observe a shear-induced collapse of the foams for formulations containing a low borax/PVA ratio, whereas they remain stable under shear for high PVA/borax ratios. Using scaling arguments, we find that the shear-induced collapse of the foams and bubbles is obtained below a critical ratio, N E/N B = 15, of the number of entanglements per chain, N E, and the number of borax per chain, N B. Rheology measurements show that the samples present a shear-thickening behavior that increases with the borax concentration. We suggest that during the foaming process when the shearing rate is of the order of 100 s-1, the viscosity of these samples diverges, leading to a viscous to fragile transition. To mimic the fast stretching of the PVA/borax thin films during the foaming process, we study the stretching of individual PVA/borax catenoid-shaped thin films at high stretching rates. We observe that the films containing low PVA/borax ratios do not minimize their surface area unlike what is theoretically expected for standard surfactant films. Moreover, the films tend to be unstable and fracture because the PVA/borax network does not have time to rearrange and relax stresses for high stretching rates.
RESUMO
An original and low cost method for the fabrication of patterned surfaces bioinspired from butterfly wings and lotus leaves is presented. Silica-based sol-gel films are thermally imprinted from elastomeric molds to produce stable structures with superhydrophobicity values as high as 160 degrees water contact angle. The biomimetic surfaces are demonstrated to be tuned from superhydrophobic to superhydrophilic by annealing between 200 degrees C and 500 degrees C.