Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

In Retrospect

Twenty years of drying droplets

Nature volume 550, pages 466–467 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

When a particle-laden droplet evaporates on a solid surface, the particles form a ring-like deposit. The explanation for this phenomenon, provided in 1997, has led to advances in many areas of science and engineering.

Why does a drying droplet, such as a spilt drop of coffee, leave a circular ring as its residue, rather than a uniform spot? Twenty years ago this month, Deegan et al.1 published a paper in Nature that explained this commonly observed phenomenon, which is known as the coffee-ring effect. Their results, and the broad interest in and applications of the effect, have spawned thousands of publications, and advances including potential improvements to ink-jet printing2, methods of patterning surfaces3 and techniques for disease detection4.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: The coffee-ring effect.

Notes

  1. See all news & views

References

  1. Deegan, R. D. et al. Nature 389, 827–829 (1997).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Soltman, D. & Subramanian, V. Langmuir 24, 2224–2231 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Larson, R. G. AIChE J. 60, 1538–1571 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Trantum, J. R., Wright, D. W. & Haselton, F. R. Langmuir 28, 2187–2193 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Hu, H. & Larson, R. G. J. Phys. Chem. B 110, 7090–7094 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Kaya, D., Belyi, V. A. & Muthukumar, M. J. Chem. Phys. 133, 114905 (2010).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Larson, R. G., López, M. A., Lim, D. W. & Lahann, J. MRS Proc. 1273, 1273-MM03-01 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Deegan, R. D. Phys. Rev. E 61, 475–485 (2000).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Willmer, D., Baldwin, K. A., Kwartnik, C. & Fairhurst, D. J. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 12, 3998–4004 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Adachi, E., Dimitrov, A. S. & Nagayama, K. Langmuir 11, 1057–1060 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Kajiya, T., Nishitani, E., Yamaue, T. & Doi, M. Phys. Rev. E 73, 011601 (2006).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Chen, L. & Evans, J. R. G. Langmuir 25, 11299–11301 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Yunker, P. J., Still, T., Lohr, M. A. & Yodh, A. G. Nature 476, 308–311 (2011).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Tarasevich, Y. Y. & Pravoslavnova, D. M. Eur. Phys. J. E 22, 311–314 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 48109-2800, Michigan, USA

    Ronald G. Larson

Authors
  1. Ronald G. Larson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ronald G. Larson.

Related links

Related links

Related links in Nature Research

Materials science: Magnetic nanoparticles line up

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Larson, R. Twenty years of drying droplets. Nature 550, 466–467 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/550466a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/550466a

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing