Topological data analysis for characterizing bijels stabilized by magnetically responsive ellipsoidal particles*

Bicontinuous interfacially jammed emulsion gels offer a versatile platform for emulsion templating of functional porous materials, including membranes, electrodes, and tissue-mimetic biomaterials. Characterization of the morphology of emulsion templates is an important step in developing fabrication methods for porous materials with tunable microstructure. We present hybrid Lattice Boltzmann-Molecular Dynamics simulations of binary liquids with ellipsoidal magnetic particles. Topological data analysis reveals that the number of channels decreases during coarsening following a power law for all particle shapes and magnetic field strengths. This suggests that topological properties of emulsions are linked to domain coarsening mechanisms. The analysis provides a more detailed picture of the structure of bijels, which can guide the optimization of interfacial particle packing and domain structure of particle-stabilized emulsion systems.