Whole Contact Line Pinning for Droplets Impacting on a Hydrophobic Surface Due to Hydrophilic TiO₂ Nanoparticle...

Controlling droplet deposition on a hydrophobic surface has received much attention due to its wide applications. Addition of certain elements into a working droplet is a feasible way to improve drop deposition, which, however, often leads to a significant change in droplet spreading properties. In this work, we show that adding a small amount of hydrophilic TiO₂ nanoparticles without any surfactant can significantly suppress the droplet rebound and even generate a whole contact line pinning on the hydrophobic surface. The whole contact line pinning is positively related to the Weber number (i.e., impact velocity) and suspension concentration. Specifically, when the suspension concentration exceeds a critical value, the pinning and droplet deposition occur in the same We range. A mechanism is proposed to explain the observed unique pinning and depinning behaviors, according to which the agglomerated TiO₂ particles depositing at the triple line can change the wettability of the local surface, which leads to pinning, while the disturbance of capillary oscillation leads to depinning. Interestingly, a long-time whole contact line pinning for more than a second was observed under certain conditions. This work can be of value for many practical applications such as pesticide deposition and spray cooling.