Droppide

Droppide is a fictional chemical concept widely used in speculative science and science fiction to explore how nanoscale droplets interact with solid crystalline hosts. The name blends the word drop with the -ide suffix commonly used for chemical substances. In fictional treatments, droppide is described as a crystalline solid capable of incorporating submicron liquid droplets within its lattice without dissolving them. The droplets can remain distinct from the host matrix and may exchange material with the lattice under certain conditions.

Properties attributed to droppide in these works include a tunable optical and mechanical response, confinement of droplets that reduces coalescence, and a phase boundary that can move with temperature, pressure, or composition. Depending on the depiction, the host lattice may be rigid or exhibit soft modes that facilitate droplet mobility. The material is often imagined to form under extreme synthesis conditions, such as rapid quenching of a molten mixture or high-pressure crystallization.

In fictional contexts, droppide is used to illustrate concepts like droplet nucleation, phase separation, and memory effects in materials. Potential applications discussed include droplet-based data storage, adaptive optics, and microfluidic control within a solid matrix. Because it is not an experimentally verified substance, droppide serves more as a thought experiment than a real material.