Pt-SiO2 Janus Particles and the Water/Oil Interface: A Competition between Motility and Thermodynamics.

Various aspects of the behavior of Janus particles near liquid/liquid interfaces have been studied through different experimental and theoretical realizations, but the effect of motility on the behavior of Janus particles near liquid/liquid interfaces has not been investigated, yet. Here, we demonstrate the ability to engineer the behavior of highly interfacial active Janus particles near a water/oil interface by introducing motility to the system. Passive, i.e., nonmotile, platinum-capped 8 μm silica (Pt-SiO2) Janus particles exhibit a strong tendency to attach to water/oil interfaces with the Pt-cap facing the oil and the SiO2 side facing the water phase. In contrast, we show that active, i.e., motile, 8 μm Pt-SiO2 Janus particles approach the interface, orient in a sideways fashion with the Janus boundary perpendicular to the interface, and then swim in the vicinity of the interface similar to observations reported near solid/liquid interfaces. Active Pt-SiO2 Janus particles near the water/oil interface show motility as a result of adding H2O2 to the particle solution. The decomposition of H2O2 into O2 and H2O creates a nonuniform gradient of O2 around the particle that hydrodynamically interacts with the water/decalin boundary. The interaction enables rotation of the particle within the swimming plane that is parallel to the interface but restricts rotation in and out of the swimming plane, thereby preventing adsorption to the liquid/liquid interface.