Chemical composition from photos: Dried solution drops reveal a morphogenetic tree

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Batista, Bruno C.; Tekle, Semhare D.; Yan, Jie; Dangi, Beni B.; Steinbock, Oliver
• 署名单位: State University System of Florida; Florida State University; University System of Maryland; Bowie State University; State University System of Florida; Florida A&M University; Florida State University
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-10241
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2405963121
• 发表日期: 2024-07-02

摘要

Under nonequilibrium conditions, inorganic systems can produce a wealth of life - like shapes and patterns which, compared to well- formed crystalline materials, remain widely unexplored. A seemingly simple example is the formation of salt deposits during the evaporation of sessile droplets. These evaporites show great variations in their specific patterns including single rings, creep, small crystals, fractals, and featureless disks. We have explored the patterns of 42 different salts at otherwise constant conditions. Based on 7,500 images, we show that distinct pattern families can be identified and that some salts (e.g., Na2SO4 and NH4NO3) are bifurcated creating two distinct motifs. Family affiliations cannot be predicted a priori from composition alone but rather emerge from the complex interplay of evaporation, crystallization, thermodynamics, capillarity, and fluid flow. Nonetheless, chemical composition can be predicted from the deposit pattern with surprisingly high accuracy even if the set of reference images is small. These findings suggest possible applications including smartphone-based analyses and lightweight tools for space missions.