Sliding variability of droplets on a hydrophobic incline due to surface entrained air bubbles

The ability of a liquid droplet to move on an incline has important ramifications in discrete volume fluidic devices. By taking advantage of the spontaneous and copious formation of visible air bubbles within water droplets on a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) surface, we uncovered a direct correlation between their presence and the ability of droplets to slide down an incline. We forward two possible mechanisms to account for this behavior. The first is attributed to the air bubbles creating regions where additional solid-liquid-vapor phase interfaces are present; wherein due to the buoyancy force acting upwards, the orientation of the contact angles of each bubble (which should also be in hysteresis but in the opposite direction of the hysteresis at the droplet rim contact lines) dictate that the net force of the bubbles in the droplet act down an incline. We show here that this mechanism cannot fully account for the bubble enhanced sliding behavior. The second mechanism is based on the occurrence of the droplet front advancing first, causing the droplet to elongate and thus allowing the receding contact line to partially sweep inwards over the bubbles. This causes a series of point-wise disruptions on the contact line that permits the droplet to slide down more readily. The relatively short time of ∼180s during which these micron sized bubbles decrease in size indicates a possibility of this mechanism contributing to a transient means to reduce the retention force of droplets that reside on hydrophobic surfaces.