An experimental study of interactions between droplets and a nonwetting microfluidic capillary

We present a detailed experimental study of water drops coming into contact with the end of vertical polytetrafluoroethane (PTFE) capillary tubes. The drops, supported on a superhydrophobic substrate, were between 0.06 and 1.97 mm in radius, and the inner radius of the vertical tube was 0.15 mm. These experiments expand on our recent work, which demonstrated that small water droplets can spontaneously penetrate non-wetting capillaries, driven by the action of Laplace pressure within the droplet, and that the dynamics of microfluidic capillary uptake are strongly dependent on the size of the incident drop. Here we quantitatively bound the critical drop radius at which droplets can penetrate a pre-filled capillary to the narrow range between 0.43 and 0.50 mm. This value is consistent with a water-PTFE contact angle between 107.8 degrees and 110.6 degrees. Capillary uptake dynamics were not significantly affected by the initial filling height, but other experimental factors have been identified as important to the dynamics of this process. In particular, interactions between the droplet, the substrate and the tubing are unavoidable prior to and during droplet uptake in a real microfluidic system. Such interactions are classified and discussed for the experimental set-up used, and the difficulties and requirements for droplet penetration of a dry capillary are outlined. These results are relevant to research into microfluidic devices, inkjet printing, and the penetration of fluids in porous materials.