Interfacial Effects of Nanostructured Doubly Reentrant Surfaces on the Evolution of Local Concentration and Fluid Flow in an Evaporating Droplet.

Abstract

Surface modification, such as bioinspired nanostructured doubly reentrant surfaces that have presented superhydrophobic wettability even under low-surface-tension liquid, is a very promising technology for controlling droplet dynamics, heat transfer, and evaporation. In this article, we investigate the interfacial effects of nanostructured doubly reentrant surfaces on the flow behaviors and local concentration evolution during the evaporation of an ethanol/water multicomponent droplet. Using particle image velocimetry (PIV) and novel aggregate-induced emission-based (AIE) techniques, the flow patterns and local concentration distributions on both hydrophobic and nanostructured doubly reentrant surfaces were probed and compared. It is found that in addition to the established Marangoni flow-dominated stage, transition stage, and buoyancy-induced flow-dominated stage, a new transition stage and a rolling stage for the nanostructured doubly reentrant surface are detected in the late evaporation period. Differences in the local concentration distribution evolution occur depending on the hydrophobicity of the surface on which the droplet is placed. For the hydrophobic surface, a nonuniform local concentration distribution exists consistently, with a high water fraction in a shell-shaped region near the liquid-air interface and a secondary concentration gradient within this shell-shaped region. The concentration distribution on the nanostructured doubly reentrant surface evolves in a more complex manner, with a strip-shaped region of high water fraction forming in the intermediate stage and then reorganized by rolling flow in the late stage. Finally, theoretical analysis combining PIV and AIE visualization results reveals that the variations in droplet concentration distributions on surfaces with different hydrophobicities exert a significant impact on evaporative behaviors. These behaviors, in turn, affect the evolution of the local concentration distribution.