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Measuring the Interaction Force Between a Droplet and a Super-hydrophobic Substrate by the Optical Lever Method

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Steering droplets on substrates using moving steps in wettability.

Josua Grawitter¹, Holger Stark¹

¹Technische Universität Berlin, Institut für Theoretische Physik, Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany. josua.grawitter@physik.tu-berlin.de holger.stark@tu-berlin.de.

|January 25, 2021

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Droplets move on patterned surfaces by surfing on wettability gradients. This study models droplet motion on switchable surfaces, revealing how droplet speed depends on surface properties and step width.

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Area of Science:

Physics
Materials Science
Fluid Dynamics

Background:

Droplet motion is crucial in various applications, including microfluidics and self-cleaning surfaces.
Controlling droplet behavior on surfaces with patterned wettability is an active research area.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate droplet dynamics on substrates with spatio-temporal wettability patterns.
To model and analyze droplet movement induced by wettability gradients using computational methods.

Main Methods:

Implementation of the boundary-element method to solve Stokes equations for fluid flow.
Incorporation of the Cox-Voinov law to describe contact line dynamics.
Simulation of droplet relaxation and motion on substrates with step-profile wettability.

Main Results:

The model successfully reproduces experimental observations of droplet relaxation.
Droplets were shown to move towards regions of higher wettability on a step-profile surface.
A feedback loop approach demonstrated that droplets can achieve constant velocity, 'surfing' on wettability steps.

Conclusions:

Computational modeling provides a robust framework for studying droplet dynamics on patterned wettability surfaces.
Droplet velocity can be controlled by manipulating wettability gradients and droplet-surface interactions.
The findings offer insights into designing surfaces for controlled droplet manipulation.