Researchers from LIPhy have undertaken a physical study to study such embolisms in an artificial leaf, made of initially water-filled channels within a thin layer of a water-permeable material. They reproduced the drying conditions specific to leaves, namely the liquid evaporation from channel to the outer atmosphere by diffusion through the permeable material, and the associated embolism growth. They have understood the role of geometrical parameters such as the channel length and cross-section or the leaf thickness, by quantifying the diffusive dynamics of water through the "bulk" of the leaf. In particular, the water-filled part of a given channel diplays a length L which exponentially decreases until a time t_c at which the channel gets completely dry; the narrower the channel and the thinner the layer of permeable material, the shorter the drying time.
