Coalescence of Pickering emulsion droplets induced by electric-field*

Combining high-speed photography with electric current measurement, we investigate the coalescence of Pickering emulsion droplets. Under high enough electric field, the originally-stable droplets coalesce via two distinct approaches: normal coalescence and abnormal coalescence. In the normal coalescence, a liquid bridge grows continuously and merges two droplets together, similar to the classical picture. In the abnormal coalescence, however, the bridge fails to grow indefinitely; instead it breaks up spontaneously due to the geometric constraint from particle shells. Such connecting-then-breaking cycles repeat multiple times, until a stable connection is established. In depth analysis indicates that the defect size in particle shells determines the exact merging behaviors: when the defects are larger than a critical size, normal coalescence will show up; while abnormal coalescence will appear for smaller defects.