Suppression of the coffee-ring effect by controlling the solid particle density

Previous studies show that the coffee-ring effect can be suppressed by altering the droplet's evaporation rate, surface tension, surface properties, and shape of particles. This experiment used five types of particles with different densities to analyze their behavior during the droplet evaporation process. The results showed that when the particle density is close to the fluid density, the particles move within the droplet and accumulate at the edges, forming a pronounced coffee-ring effect. Conversely, with the higher difference between the particle density and the fluid density increases, they tended to deposit uniformly at the bottom of the droplet and were less likely to be pushed to the edges by capillary effects, effectively suppressing the coffee-ring effect. We also observed that the movement speed of high-density particles relatively slowed down through particle image velocimetry tracking technology. By analyzing the Peclet number and the timescale between particle sinking speed and particle movement speed due to capillary flow, we explained how particle density influences the critical factors of particle sinking and suspension, thereby inhibiting the formation of the coffee-ring effect.