Particle deposition study during sessile drop evaporation

Abstract

AbstractThe focus of this article is the numerical study of particle deposition profiles on a solid substrate during the evaporation of a sessile drop of a colloidal particle suspension. The evaporation flux along the drop interface, the induced fluid dynamics inside the drop, and the particle deposition profile on the solid substrate are solved simultaneously. The governing equations are solved numerically using the Galerkin/finite element method (G/FEM) for discretization of the spatial domain and an adaptive finite difference method for discretization in the time domain. Several particle deposition profiles, such as a ring‐shaped deposit and uniform particle distribution, are obtained from the numerical simulations. The particle deposition profile is found to be influenced by the mass transfer (both convective and diffusive mass transfer) of the particles in the bulk liquid and by the deposition rate along the substrate. © 2008 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2008