Dynamic manipulation of multiphase fluid in microgravity using photoresponsive surfactant

Abstract

Control of bubble motion is essential for improving efficiency and creating new functionalities in electrochemistry, heat transfer, and biomedical systems. Photoresponsive surfactants enable bubble manipulation by creating surface-tension gradients, inducing a “photo-Marangoni” flow under illumination, without the need for engineered substrates, by leveraging a reversible switch in molecular conformation. Although previous studies have demonstrated bubble manipulation using photo-responsive surfactants, a comprehensive understanding of how fluid behavior is affected by critical parameters, such as bubble size, illumination, photo-switching kinetics, concentration, and adsorption/desorption kinetics, remains elusive. Advances have been limited by the complex multiphysics processes involved, and by the fact that earth-bound experiments couple bubble photo-Marangoni dynamics with interference from buoyancy and photo-thermal convection. We elucidate the factors enabling fast photo-Marangoni-driven bubble motion, by performing microgravity experiments, enabled by a bespoke photo-surfactant, complemented by a detailed modeling framework. We identify an optimal bubble size for migration (radius ~1 mm), since smaller and larger bubbles incur weaker photo-Marangoni stresses and larger drag, respectively. Surfactants that switch rapidly under illumination drive fast migration, provided their reverse switch (in darkness) is 10–100× slower. These foundational results enable the synthesis of next-generation photo-surfactants and photo-Marangoni manipulation across multiphase fluid systems.

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2026 The Author(s). Droplet published by Jilin University and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.