Drying of Soft Colloidal Films.

Thin films made of deformable micro- and nano-units, such as biological membranes, polymer interfaces, and particle-laden liquid surfaces, exhibit a complex behavior during drying, with consequences for various applications like wound healing, coating technologies, and additive manufacturing. Studying the drying dynamics and structural changes of soft colloidal films thus holds the potential to yield valuable insights to achieve improvements for applications. In this study, interfacial monolayers of core-shell (CS) microgels with varying degrees of softness are employed as model systems and to investigate their drying behavior on differently modified solid substrates (hydrophobic vs hydrophilic).