Soft microgel networks stabilize and extend nozzle-free water jets.

Soft PNIPAM microgels extend nozzle-free water jet lengths by up to 44%, overcoming capillary-driven breakup in high-speed liquid jets.

• Why it matters: Stability of high-speed water jets is vital for applications like precision printing and drug delivery, but capillary forces typically cause jet breakup, limiting performance.
• What they did: Researchers tuned the nanoscale softness of PNIPAM microgels, forming elastic interfacial networks that suppress surface tension recovery and delay instabilities, supported by dissipative particle dynamics simulations.
• The result: The findings enable the design of more stable, longer water jets for biomedical and industrial uses, with a simple scaling model accurately predicting jet length enhancements.