Sessile Water Drop Research Articles

Measurement of Liquid Droplet Evaporation Rate under the Conditions of Intense Heating

This paper presents an experimental study of the evaporation of a sessile water-sodium chlorides solution drop to open atmosphere on the solid substrate (anodized aluminum) under the varying heat flux. The main parameters defining drop profile, i. e., contact diameter, contact angle, and height of the drop have been obtained. Specific evaporation rate has been calculated. According to the data analysis it was found, that the sessile water-sodium chlorides solution drop with the highest concentration (16.7%) evaporates in the "reverse depinning" mode. So, there is movement of the contact line in the direction of increasing the surface occupied by the drop. The sessile water and water-sodium chlorides solution drop with 4.8% and 9.1% concentration evaporates in the contact line pinning mode. The influence of the initial concentration of the evaporated solution on the contact angle and the specific evaporation rate was found out.

Drop evaporation on superhydrophobic PTFE surfaces driven by contact line dynamics

In the present study, we experimentally study the evaporation modes and kinetics of sessile drops of water on highly hydrophobic surfaces (contact angle ∼160°), heated to temperatures ranging between 40° and 70°C. These surfaces were initially constructed by means of controlled tailoring of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) substrates. The evaporation of droplets was observed to occur in three distinct phases, which were the same for the different substrate temperatures. The drops started to evaporate in the constant contact radius (CCR) mode, then switched to a more complex mode characterized by a set of stick–slip events accompanied by a decrease in contact angle, and finally shifted to a mixed mode in which the contact radius and contact angle decreased simultaneously until the drops had completely evaporated. It is shown that in the case of superhydrophobic surfaces, the energy barriers (per unit length) associated with the stick–slip motion of a drop ranges in the nJm−1 scale. Furthermore, analysis of the evaporation rates, determined from experimental data show that, even in the CCR mode, a linear relationship between V2/3 and the evaporation time is verified. The values of the evaporation rate constants are found to be higher in the pinned contact line regime (the CCR mode) than in the moving contact line regime. This behavior is attributed to the drop’s higher surface to volume ratio in the CCR mode.

Nonlinear oscillations of a sessile drop on a hydrophobic surface induced by ac electrowetting.

We examine the nature of ac electrowetting (EW)-driven axisymmetric oscillations of a sessile water drop on a dielectric substrate. In ac EW, small-amplitude oscillations of a drop differ from the Rayleigh linear modes of freely oscillating drops. In this paper, we demonstrate that changes in the time-averaged contact angle of the sessile drop attributed to the presence of an electric field and a solid substrate mainly caused this discrepancy. We combine the domain perturbation method with the Lindsted-Poincaré method to derive an asymptotic formula for resonant frequency. Theoretical analysis shows that the resonant frequency is a function of the time-averaged contact angle. Each mode of the resonance frequency is a linear function of ɛ(1), which is the magnitude of the cosine of the time-averaged contact angle. The most dominant mode in this study, that is, the fundamental mode n=2, decreases linearly with ɛ(1). The results of the theoretical model are compared with those of both the experiments and numerical simulations. The average resonant frequency deviation between the perturbation solutions and numerical simulations is 4.3%, whereas that between the perturbation solutions and the experiments is 1.8%.

Surface characteristics and microbial adherence ability of modified polymethylmethacrylate by fluoridated glass fillers.

The current study objectives were to evaluate the influence of fluoridated glass fillers loading on the surface roughness, wettability, and adherence of candida and bacteria with and without saliva presence to a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) denture base material surface. Four concentrations of fluoridated glass fillers were added to PMMA: 1%, 2.5%, 5% and 10% by weight pre-polymerization and 0% was the control. Discs of each concentration were fabricated (n = 5 for each variable). Surface roughness (Ra ) was measured using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Wettability was assessed by measuring the contact angle of a sessile drop of water. Specimens were incubated with Candida albicans, or Streptococcus mutans with and without saliva coating. Adherence was presented as a percentage of the colonized surface area, counted using an optical microscope at x100 magnification. The 10% group showed significantly greater roughness than the control and 1% groups; however, no significant differences in contact angle values were detected. The microbial adhesion was inversely proportional to the fluoridated glass fillers concentration where 10% concentration significantly decreased candidal and bacterial adhesion compared to others. Saliva coating significantly decreased microbial adhesion. It was concluded that fluoridated glass fillers could decrease microbial adhesion to acrylic denture base without adversely affecting surface properties.

Poloidal flow and toroidal particle ring formation in a sessile drop driven by megahertz order vibration.

Poloidal flow is curiously formed in a microliter sessile water drop over 157-225 MHz because of acoustic streaming from three-dimensional standing Lamb waves in a lithium niobate substrate. The flow possesses radial symmetry with downwelling at the center and upwelling around the periphery of the drop. Outside this frequency range, the attenuation occurs over a length scale incompatible with the drop size and the poloidal flow vanishes. Remarkably, shear-induced migration was found to drive toroidal particle ring formation with diameters inversely proportional to the frequency of the acoustic irradiation.

Time-resolved interference unveils nanoscale surface dynamics in evaporating sessile droplet

We report a simple optical technique to measure time-resolved nanoscale surface profile of an evaporating sessile fluid droplet. By analyzing the high contrast Newton-ring like dynamical fringes formed by interfering Fresnel reflections, we demonstrated λ/100 ≈ 5 nm sensitivity in surface height (at 0.01–160 nm/s rate) of an evaporating water drop. The remarkably high sensitivity allowed us to precisely measure its transient surface dynamics during contact-line slips, weak perturbations on the evaporation due to external magnetic field and partial confinement of the drop. Further, we measured evaporation dynamics of a sessile water drop on soft deformable surface to demonstrate wide applicability of this technique.

The wettability of polymer films depends on the polymerization conditions

The polymerization conditions have a strong influence on the properties and time-dependent behavior of a sessile water drop on polymer films. For a given copolymer composition, the recipe components of emulsion copolymer films clearly influence the initial static water contact angle. Common emulsifiers such as sodium dodecyl sulfate lead to lower contact angles than poly(ionic liquid) dispersions which are a new class of stabilizers for emulsion polymerization. In contrast to the static contact angle, the time-dependent properties of the water contact angle reflect the particular conditions during the polymerization. It is a general conclusion of this study that waterborne emulsion copolymers show a distinctly different time-dependent behavior of the contact angle than bulk polymers of the same molecular composition regardless of the initial static contact angle.

Water stable aggregates of Japanese Andisol as affected by hydrophobicity and drying temperature

Abstract Hydrophobicity is a property of soils that reduces their affinity for water, which may help impeding the pressure build-up within aggregates, and reducing aggregate disruption. The purpose of this study was to examine the relation of soil hydrophobicity and drying temperature to water stability of aggregates while preventing the floating of dry aggregates using unhydrophobized and hydrophobized surface Andisol. Soil was hydrophobized using stearic acid into different hydrophobicities. Hydrophobicity was determined using sessile drop contact angle and water drop penetration time (WDPT). Water stability of aggregates (%WSA) was determined using artificially prepared model aggregates. The %WSA increased as the contact angle and WDPT increased. Contact angle and WDPT, which provided maximum %WSA showing less than 1 s of floating, was around 100° and 5 s, respectively. Although the %WSA gradually increased with increasing contact angle and WDPT above this level, high levels of hydrophobicity initiated aggregate floating, which would cause undesirable effects of water repellency. Heating at 50°C for 5 h d-1 significantly affected %WSA and hydrophobicity in hydrophobized samples, but did not in unhydrophobized samples. The results indicate that the contact angle and wetting rate (WDPT) are closely related with the water stability of aggregates. The results further confirm that high levels of hydrophobicities induce aggregate floating, and the drying temperature has differential effects on hydrophobicity and aggregate stability depending on the hydrophobic materials present in the soil.

Evaporation of water droplets on soft patterned surfaces

The evaporation process of a sessile drop of water on soft patterned polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrates is investigated in this study. Different softness of a regular pillar-like patterned PDMS substrate can be achieved by controlling the mixing ratio of a PDMS's prepolymer base and a curing agent at 10 : 1, 20 : 1 and 30 : 1. The receding contact angle is smaller for softer pillar-like patterned substrates. Consequently, the evaporation rate is faster on softer pillar-like substrates. A sessile drop on the regular pillar-like PDMS substrates, prepared at the mixing ratio of a base to a curing agent of 10 : 1 and 20 : 1, is observed to start evaporating in the constant contact radius (CCR) mode then switching to the constant contact angle (CCA) mode via stepwise jumping of the contact line, and finally shifting to the mixed mode sequentially. During the evaporation, a wetting transition from the Cassie to the Wenzel state occurs earlier for the softer substrate because softer pillars relatively cannot stand the increasingly high Laplace pressure. For the softest regular pillar-like PDMS substrate prepared at the mixing ratio of the base to the curing agent of 30 : 1 (abbreviated by PDMS-30 : 1 substrate), the pillars collapse irreversibly after the sessile drop exhibits the wetting transition into the Wenzel state. Furthermore, it is interesting to find out that the initial stage of evaporation of a sessile drop on the PDMS-30 : 1 substrate in the Cassie state is in the CCR mode followed by the CCA mode with stepwise retreatment of the contact line. Further evaporation would induce the wetting transition from the Cassie to the Wenzel state (due to the collapse of pillars) and resume the CCR mode followed by the CCA mode again sequentially.

Substrate constraint modifies the Rayleigh spectrum of vibrating sessile drops

In this work, we study the resonance behavior of mechanically oscillated, sessile water drops. By mechanically oscillating sessile drops vertically and within prescribed ranges of frequencies and amplitudes, a rich collection of resonance modes are observed and their dynamics subsequently investigated. We first present our method of identifying each mode uniquely, through association with spherical harmonics and according to their geometric patterns. Next, we compare our measured resonance frequencies of drops to theoretical predictions using both the classical theory of Lord Rayleigh and Lamb for free, oscillating drops, and a prediction by Bostwick and Steen that explicitly considers the effect of the solid substrate on drop dynamics. Finally, we report observations and analysis of drop mode mixing, or the simultaneous coexistence of multiple mode shapes within the resonating sessile drop driven by one sinusoidal signal of a single frequency. The dynamic response of a deformable liquid drop constrained by the substrate it is in contact with is of interest in a number of applications, such as drop atomization and ink jet printing, switchable electronically controlled capillary adhesion, optical microlens devices, as well as digital microfluidic applications where control of droplet motion is induced by means of a harmonically driven substrate.

Evaporation of a sessile water drop on a heated surface with controlled wettability

This paper presents an experimental and theoretical study of the evaporation of a sessile water drop to open atmosphere when the temperature difference between the solid substrate and the atmosphere is about 40°C. Using substrates with different wettability we investigate all three modes of droplet evaporation: pinning, partial pinning and depinning. One of the most important results is that at the final stage of the drop life the specific evaporation rate abruptly increases especially for drops with small and moderate contact angle hysteresis. The coupled heat and mass transfer model is considered where the temperature field on the drop surface determines the distribution of vapor concentration on liquid–gas interface. The heat exchange of liquid drop with gas phase strongly affects the temperature distribution on the droplet surface. There is an appreciable increase of temperature close to periphery of the droplet near the contact line. And this leads to increasing of evaporative mass flux near the contact line. We calculate the evaporation rate and conclude that the global evaporation rate is proportional to the contact radius rb while the drop area is proportional to the drop contact radius squared rb2. Thus, the specific evaporation rate (evaporation rate per drop area) is a function of 1/rb and diverges at the end of the evaporation when the drop contact radius tends to zero. The calculated specific evaporation rate is in excellent agreement with the experimental data.

Shape of Water–Air Interface beneath a Drop on a Superhydrophobic Surface Revealed: Constant Curvature That Approaches Zero

The 3D interface between a sessile water drop that is found on a superhydrophobic microtextured surface has been directly imaged using a confocal microscope with an immersion lens. The local mean curvature of the water–air interface was derived and was shown to be constant and close to zero not only for the case of pure water, but also for cases of variable drop density and surface tension. Although the mean curvature is constant and close to zero, the standard deviation on the mean curvature increases with increasing drop density and lower surface tension. The resulting 3D image of the water–air interface at the bottom of a water drop demonstrates the possibility of investigating practical interfaces of water on given textures and confirms that no matter what the superhydrophobic surface characteristics are, the interface remains with a constant curvature of close to zero.

Spot morphology of non-contact printed protein molecules on non-porous substrates with a range of hydrophobicities

Non-contact inkjet printing technology is one of the most promising tools for producing microarrays. The quality of the microarray depends on the type of the substrate used for printing biomolecules. Various porous and non-porous substrates have been used in the past, but due to low production cost and easy availability, non-porous substrates like glass and plastic are preferred over porous substrates. On these non-porous substrates, obtaining spot uniformity and a high signal to noise ratio is a big challenge. In our research work, we have modified pristine glass slides using various silanes to produce a range of hydrophobic glass substrates. The hydrophobicities of the slides expressed in the contact angle (θ) of a sessile drop of water were 49°, 61°, 75°, 88° and 103°. Using a non-contact inkjet printer, microarrays of biotinylated biomolecules (BSA and IgG) were produced on these modified glass substrates, pristine (untreated) glass and also on HTA polystyrene slides. The uniformity of the spots, reflecting the distribution of the biomolecules in the spots, was analyzed and compared using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). The quality of the spots was superior on the glass slide with a contact angle of ∼75°. We also investigated the influence of the hydrophobicity of the substrate on a two-step, real diagnostic antibody assay. This nucleic acid microarray immunoassay (NAMIA) for the detection of Staphylococcus aureus showed that on highly hydrophilic (θ < 10°) and hydrophobic substrates (θ > 100°) the assay signal was low, whereas an excellent signal was obtained on the substrates with intermediate contact angles, θ ∼ 61° and θ ∼ 75°, respectively.

Evaporation of a sessile drop with pinned or receding contact line on a substrate with different thermophysical properties

Effect of substrate thermophysical properties on the evaporation of a sessile drop of water in surrounding moist air is investigated by means of a quasi-steady state diffusion model. The situation of a non-heated solid substrate is invoked and both pinned and de-pinned drops are considered. The used numerical approach allows a full coupling between the three coexisting phases by solving water vapor diffusion equation in the surrounding air and heat conduction equation in all three phases. Results show that, for both pinned and de-pinned drops, a decrease in thermal conductivity of the substrate or an increase of its thickness has a cooling effect on the drop and expands the cold zone close to the liquid–gas interface. Furthermore, the overall heat and mass transfer rates at the liquid–gas interface vary between two limiting values. The maximum evaporation rate is obtained when the drop is on a substrate with very high thermal conductivity or on a very thin substrate. In this case, the drop is mainly supplied with heat from the substrate. The minimum evaporation rate is obtained when the drop is on a perfectly insulating substrate or a very thick substrate. In that case, the needed energy for evaporation is taken mainly from the gas phase. The numerical predictions also highlight different evaporation rate and evaporation flux for pinned or de-pinned drop and they depict a higher evaporation time for the latter.

Effect of substrate thickness and thermal conductivity on an evaporating sessile drop

A quasi-steady state diffusion model is developed to predict the evaporation of a sessile drop of water and analyze the effect of substrate properties. A numerical approach based on the finite volume method is implemented to assess the heat and mass exchanges at the drop surface. Numerical results illustrate the effect of the thermal conductivity and the thickness of the substrate on the temperature and concentration fields. It is evidenced that a decrease in thermal conductivity of the substrate or an increase of its thickness has a similar cooling effect on the drop and widen the extent of the cold zone resulting from the evaporation. The influence of these two parameters is kept constant all along the evaporation process for a pinned drop.

Synthesis and properties of polycarbonate-co-poly(siloxane-urethane-siloxane) block copolymers

Polycarbonate-co-poly(siloxane-urethane-siloxane) block copolymers (SiUrPC) were synthesized from siloxane-urethane monomer and polycarbonate (PC) oligomer, and their properties were compared with those of linear Bisphenol A PC (BPA-PC) and siloxane PC (SiPC). The synthesized polymers were characterized by 1H NMR spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The contact angle of the sessile water drop onto the polymer films was also measured. The thermal and mechanical properties of SiUrPC differed from those of BPA-PC and SiPC. SiUrPC exhibited superior flow properties and lower wettability than BPA-PC. Open image in new window

Bacterial adhesion and colonization differences between zirconia and titanium implant abutments: an in vivo human study

PurposeSeveral parameters have been described for determining the success or failure of dental implants. The surface properties of transgingival implant components have had a great impact on the long-term success of dental implants. The purpose of this study was to compare the tendency of two periodontal pathogens to adhere to and colonize zirconia abutments and titanium alloys both in hard surfaces and soft tissues.MethodsTwelve patients participated in this study. Three months after implant placement, the abutments were connected. Five weeks following the abutment connections, the abutments were removed, probing depth measurements were recorded, and gingival biopsies were performed. The abutments and gingival biopsies taken from the buccal gingiva were analyzed using real-time polymerase chain reaction to compare the DNA copy numbers of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Porphyromonas gingivalis, and total bacteria. The surface free energy of the abutments was calculated using the sessile water drop method before replacement. Data analyses used the Mann Whitney U-test, and P-values below 0.05 find statistical significance.ResultsThe present study showed no statistically significant differences between the DNA copy numbers of A. actinomycetemcomitans, P. gingivalis, and total bacteria for both the titanium and zirconia abutments and the biopsies taken from their buccal gingiva. The differences between the free surface energy of the abutments had no influence on the microbiological findings.ConclusionsZirconia surfaces have comparable properties to titanium alloy surfaces and may be suitable and safe materials for the long-term success of dental implants.

Dynamics of liquid droplets in an evaporating drop: liquid droplet “coffee stain” effect

In this paper, we demonstrate the dynamics of bidispersed oil droplets in an evaporating water sessile drop. This phenomenon is therefore equivalent to a unique liquid droplet based “coffee stain” effect, with the depositing colloidal particles (of a classical “coffee stain” problem) being replaced by the oil droplets partially wetting the substrate. The important difference with respect to the classical “coffee stain” problem, as revealed by our experiments, is that the oil droplets, unlike the colloidal particles, cannot reach the contact line; rather the aversion of the oil droplets to the air ensures that the oil droplets always remain at a finite distance from the contact line. We call this effect an “enclosure” effect, characterized by this distance. We provide a theoretical model to explain this phenomenon, and our theoretical results match well with the experimental observations. The “enclosure” effect depends on the droplet size, thereby allowing an automatic size-based separation of the oil droplets. Additionally, this effect depends on the wettability of the oil droplets and the sessile drop, as well as the relative velocity of the oil droplets with respect to the rate of decrease of the sessile drop contact angle. Our identification of this new phenomenon in a liquid-droplet based “coffee stain” problem will have a huge impact on microscale control and manipulation of liquid droplets in a two phase system.

Assessing the Accuracy of Contact Angle Measurements for Sessile Drops on Liquid-Repellent Surfaces

Gravity-induced sagging can amplify variations in goniometric measurements of the contact angles of sessile drops on super-liquid-repellent surfaces. The very large value of the effective contact angle leads to increased optical noise in the drop profile near the solid-liquid free surface and the progressive failure of simple geometric approximations. We demonstrate a systematic approach to determining the effective contact angle of drops on super-repellent surfaces. We use a perturbation solution of the Bashforth-Adams equation to estimate the contact angles of sessile drops of water, ethylene glycol, and diiodomethane on an omniphobic surface using direct measurements of the maximum drop width and height. The results and analysis can be represented in terms of a dimensionless Bond number that depends on the maximum drop width and the capillary length of the liquid to quantify the extent of gravity-induced sagging. Finally, we illustrate the inherent sensitivity of goniometric contact angle measurement techniques to drop dimensions as the apparent contact angle approaches 180°.

Dynamics of a Disturbed Sessile Drop Measured by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)

A new method for studying the dynamics of a sessile drop by atomic force microscopy (AFM) is demonstrated. A hydrophobic microsphere (radius, r ∼ 20-30 μm) is brought into contact with a small sessile water drop resting on a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) surface. When the microsphere touches the liquid surface, the meniscus rises onto it because of capillary forces. Although the microsphere volume is 6 orders of magnitude smaller than the drop, it excites the normal resonance modes of the liquid interface. The sphere is pinned at the interface, whose small (<100 nm) oscillations are readily measured with AFM. Resonance oscillation frequencies were measured for drop volumes between 5 and 200 μL. The results for the two lowest normal modes are quantitatively consistent with continuum calculations for the natural frequency of hemispherical drops with no adjustable parameters. The method may enable sensitive measurements of volume, surface tension, and viscosity of small drops.