Why can organic liquids move easily on smooth alkyl-terminated surfaces?

The dynamic dewettability of a smooth alkyl-terminated sol-gel hybrid film surface against 17 probe liquids (polar and nonpolar, with high and low surface tensions) was systematically investigated using contact angle (CA) hysteresis and substrate tilt angle (TA) measurements, in terms of their physicochemical properties such as surface tension, molecular weight/volume, dielectric constant, density, and viscosity. We found that the dynamic dewettability of the hybrid film markedly depended not on the surface tensions but on the dielectric constants of the probe liquids, displaying lower resistance to liquid drop movement with decreasing dielectric constant (ε < 30). Interfacial analysis using the sum-frequency generation (SFG) technique confirmed that the conformation of surface-tethered alkyl chains was markedly altered before and after contact with the different types of probe liquids. When probe liquids with low dielectric constants were in contact with our surface, CH3 groups were preferentially exposed at the solid/liquid interface, leading to a reduction in surface energy. Because of such local changes in surface energy at the three-phase contact line of the probe liquid, the contact line can move continuously from low-surface-energy (solid/liquid) areas to surrounding high-surface-energy (solid/air) areas without pinning. Consequently, the organic probe liquids with low dielectric constants can move easily and roll off when tilted only slightly, independent of the magnitude of CAs, without relying on conventional surface roughening and perfluorination.