Abstract
The development of contactless sample manipulation for microfluidic purposes has attracted significant attention within the physicochemical fields. Most existing studies focus on the interactions of unheated liquid substrates and on heated/unheated solid substrates. Therefore, the dynamics of droplets on heated liquid pools have yet to be explored. Here, we present an experimental investigation on the levitated and self-propelled droplets on a heated pool. We aim to identify the effect of the pool temperature and the thermophysical properties of droplets on the dynamics of a self-propelled Leidenfrost droplet on a heated pool. The motion of droplets after levitation on the heated pool is visualized. To elucidate the self-propulsion of Leidenfrost droplets, we quantify the thickness of the vapour film between the approaching droplet and the pool surface. Our experimental results show a quantitative agreement with the simple model prediction for self-propelled Leidenfrost droplets. Our results provide deeper physical insights into the dynamics of Leidenfrost droplets on a heated pool for contactless and contamination-free sample manipulation.
Highlights
The development of contactless sample manipulation for microfluidic purposes has attracted significant attention within the physicochemical fields
Many descriptions have been provided for the Leidenfrost effect with respect to droplets on heated solid substrates, the underlying physical phenomena for droplets approaching heated liquid substrates is less studied because of the complexity of the dynamics involved
Several efforts have been made to provide a better understanding of the essential physics of Leidenfrost droplets on a heated pool7–11,20,21. Davanlou[7] studied how the physical properties of droplets affect their lifetime when suspended on a liquid pool using a lubrication theory
Summary
The development of contactless sample manipulation for microfluidic purposes has attracted significant attention within the physicochemical fields. Many descriptions have been provided for the Leidenfrost effect with respect to droplets on heated solid substrates, the underlying physical phenomena for droplets approaching heated liquid substrates (i.e., pools) is less studied because of the complexity of the dynamics involved. Janssens et al.[9] visually demonstrated that acetone droplets can be levitated and self-propelled on a heated surface.
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