Dewetting of non-polar thin lubricating films underneath polar liquid drops on slippery surfaces

The stability of thin lubricating fluid-coated slippery surfaces depends on the surface energy of the underlying solid surface. High energy solid surfaces coated with thin lubricating oil lead to the dewetting of the oil films upon depositing aqueous drops on them. Hence such surfaces are very suitable to investigate dewetting of thick films (thickness > 500 nm), which otherwise is not possible using a conventional dewetting system.

Lubricating films of different thicknesses are coated on hydrophilic solid surfaces, and glycerol drops are deposited on them. Fluorescence imaging of lubricating films and macroscopic wetting behavior of glycerol drops are analyzed to understand the dewetting phenomenon.

Underneath lubricating films undergo initial thinning and subsequently dewet. The dewetting dynamics during hole nucleation and growth and the final pattern of the dewetted oil droplets depend strongly on the thickness of the lubricating films. Ultrathin films dewet spontaneously via homogeneous nucleation, whereas thicker films dewet via heterogeneous nucleation. During dewetting, the apparent contact angle and radius of glycerol drops follow universal scaling behavior.