Ultralow voltage irreversible electrowetting dynamics of an aqueous drop on a stainless steel surface

The electrowetting dynamics of a water drop on a stainless steel surface in air is investigated under ultralow voltages. The spreading behavior can be classified into three regimes. The drop expands slowly in regime I, but the spreading accelerates quite rapidly in regime II. The spreading becomes insignificant in regime III. The experimental results are compared to the equilibrium shapes acquired by Surface Evolver simulations. The good agreement between them indicates that the slow electrowetting dynamics can be considered to be a quasi-equilibrium process. The influences of the electric field and drop size on the spreading dynamics are examined. The variation of both the contact angle and base diameter with time in regimes II and III can be well described by the exponential change with a characteristic time, which grows with the drop volume but is inversely proportional to the electric field. A simple model based on the electromechnical mechanism is proposed to explain the spreading dynamics. The exponential change is attributed to ion migration from the bulk of the drop to the contact line. The experimental results agree well with the prediction of our simple theory.