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Contact angle hysteresis at the nanometer scale.

Mathieu Delmas¹, Marc Monthioux, Thierry Ondarçuhu

¹CEMES-CNRS, 29 rue Jeanne Marvig, 31055 Toulouse cedex 4, France.

Physical Review Letters

|April 27, 2011

Summary

Researchers studied liquid contact line pinning on nanometric defects using atomic force microscopy. They identified weak defects and measured energy dissipation for strong defects, revealing insights into contact angle hysteresis at the nanoscale.

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Area of Science:

Surface science
Nanotechnology
Materials science

Background:

Contact angle hysteresis is a phenomenon crucial in various physical and chemical processes.
Understanding the microscopic origins of hysteresis, particularly the role of surface defects, is essential for controlling interfacial behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the pinning of liquid contact lines on individual nanometric surface defects.
To elucidate the relationship between nanometric defects and contact angle hysteresis.
To quantify the energy dissipation associated with defect-induced pinning.

Main Methods:

Utilized atomic force microscopy (AFM) equipped with nonconventional carbon tips.
Studied the pinning of liquid contact lines on individual nanometric defects.
Measured dissipated energy down to the order of thermal energy (kT).

Main Results:

Demonstrated that nanometric defects are responsible for contact angle hysteresis.
Provided the first evidence for the existence of weak defects that do not contribute to hysteresis.
Measured dissipated energy for strong defects, correlating it with defect sizes around 1 nm.

Conclusions:

Nanometric surface defects play a critical role in contact angle hysteresis.
The study distinguishes between defect types, identifying those that cause hysteresis and those that do not.
The findings offer a nanoscale understanding of energy dissipation at liquid-solid interfaces.