The addition of small amounts of a secondary fluid to a suspension can,through the attractive capillary force, lead to particle bridging and networkformation. The capillary bridging phenomenon can be used to stabilize particlesuspensions and precisely tune their rheological properties. This effect caneven occur when the secondary fluid wets the particles less well than the bulkfluid. These materials, so-called capillary suspensions, have been the subjectof recent research studying the mechanism for network formation, the propertiesof these suspensions, and how the material properties can be modified. Recentwork in colloidal clusters is summarized and the relationship to capillarysuspensions is discussed. Capillary suspensions can also be used as a pathwayfor new material design and some of these applications are highlighted. Resultsobtained to date are summarized and central questions that remain to beanswered are proposed in this review.
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