Issue 45, 2017

Understanding desiccation patterns of blood sessile drops

Abstract

Desiccation of a blood sessile drop on a glass surface leads to the formation of interesting cracking patterns. These desiccation patterns have been identified to have three characteristic regions, i.e., peripheral, coronal and central regions. Driving forces responsible for the formation of cracking patterns are the redistribution of colloidal materials driven by a “coffee ring” effect and the time- and location-dependent development of internal stresses caused by water evaporation and progressive gelation from the drop edge to its center. Since the concentrations of colloidal materials, i.e., cellular components, protein macromolecules and other constituents (glucose, bilirubin and lipids) in blood, influence the cracking patterns, an understanding of these patterns can potentially reveal clues for the evaluation of health conditions and offer a low-cost diagnostic tool for human diseases. This study presents a mechanistic analysis of the pattern formation in desiccating blood sessile drops. We focus on the build-up and release of internal stresses by examining the cracking process. Optical and scanning electron microscopes (SEM) were used to capture the initiation, propagation and directions of cracks in different regions. The propagation and widening of orthoradial and radial cracks in relation to the adhesion and cohesion of the blood sessile drops were observed and characterized. New microscopic insights into internal stress releasing processes provide a new understanding of physical events occurring underneath the gelled film of the blood sessile drop and differences in the distribution of strain energy in different regions, which will aid our understanding of different cracking patterns in those regions.

Graphical abstract: Understanding desiccation patterns of blood sessile drops

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 Aug 2017
Accepted
26 Oct 2017
First published
30 Oct 2017

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2017,5, 8991-8998

Understanding desiccation patterns of blood sessile drops

R. Chen, L. Zhang, D. Zang and W. Shen, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2017, 5, 8991 DOI: 10.1039/C7TB02290E

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements