Morphogenesis of polycrystalline dendritic patterns from evaporation of a reactive nanofluid sessile drop

We report polycrystalline residual patterns with dendritic micromorphologies upon fast evaporation of a mixed-solvent sessile drop containing reactive ZnO nanoparticles. The molecular and particulate species generated in situ upon evaporative drying collude with and modify the Marangoni solvent flows and Bénard-Marangoni instabilities, as they undergo self-assembly and self-organization under conditions far from equilibrium, leading to the ultimate hierarchical central cellular patterns surrounded by a peripheral coffee ring upon drying.