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Microgels are soft colloidal particles constituted by cross-linked polymernetworks with a high potential for applications. In particular, afteradsorption at a fluid interface, interfacial tension provides two-dimensional(2D) confinement for microgel monolayers and drives the reconfiguration of theparticles, enabling their deployment in foam and emulsion stabilization and insurface patterning for lithography, sensing and optical materials. However,most studies focus on systems of fluids with a high interfacial tension, e.g.alkanes/ or air/water interfaces, which imparts similar properties to theassembled monolayers. Here, instead, we compare two organic fluid phases,hexane and methyl tert-butyl ether, which have markedly different interfacialtension ($\gamma$) values with water and thus tune the elasticity anddeformation of adsorbed microgels. We rationalize how $\gamma$ controls thesingle-particle morphology, which consequently modulates the structural andmechanical response of the monolayers at varying interfacial compression.Specifically, when $\gamma$ is low, the microgels are less deformed within theinterface plane and their polymer networks can rearrange more easily uponlateral compression, leading to softer monolayers. Selecting interfaces withdifferent surface energy offers an additional control to customize the 2Dassembly of soft particles, from the fine-tuning of particle size andinterparticle spacing to the tailoring of mechanical properties.

Influence of the interfacial tension on the microstructural and mechanical properties of microgels at fluid interfaces