Regensburg 2019 – scientific programme
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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik
DY 47: Statistical physics of biological systems II (joint session BP/DY)
DY 47.4: Talk
Thursday, April 4, 2019, 15:45–16:00, H11
Control of droplet coarsening in active emulsions — •Christoph Weber1, Marta Tena-Solsona2, Jacqueline Janssen1, Caren Wanzke2, Fabian Schnitter2, and Job Boekhoven2 — 1MPIPKS, Dresden — 2TUM, Munich
Spatial-temporal regulation of liquid phase separation is crucial inside living cells. While spatial control can be achieved through concentration gradients, temporal control is often limited by the slow coarsening processes of droplet fusion and Ostwald ripening. Here we present a new class of active emulsions where the rate of coarsening can be dramatically accelerated in a controlled manner. This class of active emulsions involves a fuel that drives a chemical reaction from thermodynamically stable precursor molecules to metastable building blocks. At large enough concentrations of building blocks liquid droplets can form. We show by experimental studies of various active emulsions and a theory which quantitively coincides with the experimental measurements, how the metastable building blocks actually accelerate the coarsening kinetics in this novel class of phase separated systems. This class of active emulsions indicates novel possibilities to control sizes of assemblies in chemical engineering and may also rely on a mechanism used for the size regulation of membrane-less organelles in living cells.