We consider the equilibrium of liquid droplets sitting on thin elastic sheets that are subject to a boundary tension and/or are clamped at their edge. We use scaling arguments, together with a detailed analysis based on the Föppl-von-Kármán equations, to show that the presence of the droplet may significantly alter the stress locally if the tension in the dry sheet is weak compared to an intrinsic elasto-capillary tension scale $γ^{2/3}(Et)^{1/3}$ (with $γ$ the droplet surface tension, $t$ the sheet thickness and $E$ its Young modulus). Our detailed analysis suggests that some recent experiments may lie in just such a "non-perturbative" regime. As a result, measurements of the tension in the sheet at the contact line (inferred from the contact angles of the sheet with the liquid--vapour interface) do not necessarily reflect the true tension within the sheet prior to wetting. We discuss various characteristics of this non-perturbative regime.
Recent studies of elasto-capillary phenomena have triggered interest in a basic variant of the classical Young-Laplace-Dupré (YLD) problem: The capillary interaction between a liquid drop and a thin solid sheet of low bending stiffness. Here, we consider a two-dimensional model where the sheet is subjected to an external tensile load and the drop is characterized by a well-defined Young's contact angle $θ_Y$. Using a combination of numerical, variational, and asymptotic techniques, we discuss wetting as a function of the applied tension. We find that, for wettable surfaces with $0<θ_Y<π/2$, co…
Hypothesis: Surfactants are often added to aqueous solutions to induce spreading on otherwise unwettable hydrophobic surfaces. Alternatively, they can be introduced directly into solid hydrophobic materials-such as the soft elastomer, polydimethylsiloxane-to induce autonomous spreading without requiring additional surface or liquid modifications. Given the similarity between mechanisms of these two approaches, models that describe wetting by aqueous surfactant solutions should also characterize wetting on surfactant-solid systems. Experiments: Multiple surfactants of varying size and chemical …
In a recent publication, Trentin et al employed Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations for the theoretical study of the wetting of the different polymorphs of cellulose by water, using the widely employed TIP3P model of water. Here we show that the selection of the particular water model employed in the simulations has a critical impact in the results, a point overlooked by the authors. In particular, the TIP3P model of water has an unrealistically low value of the surface tension which compromises wetting studies made with this model. Slightly more complex models such as TIP4P2005 correctly repr…
Morphogenesis, tissue regeneration and cancer invasion involve transitions in tissue morphology. These transitions, caused by collective cell migration (CCM), have been interpreted as active wetting/de-wetting transitions. This phenomenon is considered on model system such as wetting of cell aggregate on rigid substrate which includes cell aggregate movement and isotropic/anisotropic spreading of cell monolayer around the aggregate depending on the substrate rigidity and aggregate size. This model system accounts for the transition between 3D epithelial aggregate and 2D cell monolayer as a pro…
The contact line of a liquid drop on a solid exerts a nanometrically sharp surface traction. This provides an unprecedented tool to study highly localised and dynamic surface deformations of soft polymer networks. One of the outstanding problems in this context is the stick-slip instability, observed above a critical velocity, during which the contact line periodically depins from its own wetting ridge. Time-resolved measurements of the solid deformation are challenging, and the mechanism of dynamical depinning has remained elusive. Here we present direct visualisations of the dynamic wetting …
The equilibrium contact angle of a droplet resting on a solid substrate can reveal essential properties of the solid's surface. However, when the motion of a droplet on a surface shows significant hysteresis, it is generally accepted that the solid's equilibrium properties cannot be determined. Here, we describe a method to measure surface tensions of soft solids with strong wetting hysteresis. With independent knowledge of the surface tension of the wetting fluid and the linear-elastic response of the solid, the solid deformations under the contact line and the contact angle of a single dropl…
Atomically thin sheets, such as graphene, are widely used in nanotechnology. Recently they have also been used in applications including kirigami and self-folding origami, where it becomes important to understand how they respond to external loads. Motivated by this, we investigate how isotropic sheets respond to uniaxial tension by employing the self-consistent screening analysis method and molecular dynamics simulations. Previously, it was shown that for freely suspended sheets thermal fluctuations effectively renormalize elastic constants, which become scale-dependent beyond a characteristi…
Soochow University（苏州大学）；Department of Physics, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology（以色列理工学院物理系）；Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院物理系）
Extremely compliant elastic materials, such as thin membranes or soft gels, can be deformed when wetted by a liquid drop. It is commonly assumed that the solid capillarity in "soft wetting" can be treated in the same manner as liquid surface tension. However, the physical chemistry of a solid interface is itself affected by any distortion with respect to the elastic reference state. This gives rise to phenomena that have no counterpart in liquids: the mechanical surface stress is different from the excess free energy in surface. Here we point out some striking consequences of this "Shuttlewort…
We introduce an accurate and efficient method for characterizing surface wetting and interfacial properties, such as the contact angle made by a liquid droplet on a solid surface, and the vapor-liquid surface tension of a fluid. The method makes use of molecular simulations in conjunction with the indirect umbrella sampling technique to systematically wet the surface and estimate the corresponding free energy. To illustrate the method, we study the wetting of a family of Lennard-Jones surfaces by water. We estimate contact angles for surfaces with a wide range of attractions for water by using…
We investigate with experiments the twist induced transverse buckling instabilities of an elastic sheet of length $L$, width $W$, and thickness $t$, that is clamped at two opposite ends while held under a tension $T$. Above a critical tension $T_λ$ and critical twist angle $η_{tr}$, we find that the sheet buckles with a mode number $n \geq 1$ transverse to the axis of twist. Three distinct buckling regimes characterized as clamp-dominated, bendable, and stiff are identified, by introducing a bendability length $L_B$ and a clamp length $L_{C}(<L_B)$. In the stiff regime ($L>L_B$), we find that …
Universitat de Barcelona（巴塞罗那大学）；Institute of Complex Systems (UBICS)（复杂系统研究所）；Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems（马克斯·普朗克复杂系统物理研究所）；Center for Systems Biology Dresden（德累斯顿系统生物学中心）；Cluster of Excellence Physics of Life, TU Dresden（德累斯顿工业大学生命物理学卓越集群）；Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA)（加泰罗尼亚研究高级机构）
Liquid infused surfaces with partially wetting lubricants have recently been exploited for numerous intriguing applications, such as for droplet manipulation, droplet collection and spontaneous motion. When partially wetting lubricants are used, the pinning force is a key factor that can strongly affect droplet mobility. Here, we derive an analytical prediction for contact angle hysteresis {in the limit where the meniscus size is much smaller than the droplet}, and numerically study how it is controlled by the solid fraction, the lubricant wetting angles, and the various fluid surface tensions…
Free-energy barrier of filling a spherical cavity in the presence of line tension: Implication to the energy barrier between the Cassie and Wenzel state on a superhydrophobic surface with spherical cavities
The effect of line tension on the axisymmetric nanoscale capillary bridge between two identical substrates with convex, concave and flat geometry at the liquid-vapor equilibrium is theoretically studied. The modified Young's equation for the contact angle, which takes into account the effect of line tension is derived on a general axisymmetric curved surface using the variational method. Even without the effect of line tension, the parameter space where the bridge can exist is limited simply by the geometry of substrates. The modified Young's equation further restricts the space where the brid…
A wetting liquid is driven through a thin gap due to surface tension and when the gap boundaries are elastic, the liquid deforms the gap as it rises. But when the fluid boundaries are also permeable (or poroelastic), the liquid can permeate the boundaries as the fluid rises and change their properties, for example by swelling and softening, thereby altering the dynamics of the rise. In this paper, we study the dynamics of capillary rise between two poroelastic sheets to understand the effects of boundary permeability and softening. We find that if the bending rigidity of sheets is reduced, due…
The spreading of liquid drops on soft substrates is extremely slow, owing to strong viscoelastic dissipation inside the solid. A detailed understanding of the spreading dynamics has remained elusive, partly owing to the difficulty in quantifying the strong viscoelastic deformations below the contact line that determine the shape of moving wetting ridges. Here we present direct experimental visualisations of the dynamic wetting ridge, complemented with measurements of the liquid contact angle. It is observed that the wetting ridge exhibits a rotation that follows exactly the dynamic liquid cont…
在有效的界面哈密顿方法，我们评估与圆柱形液滴固着在一个平面基板上的条状化学不均匀性的过剩线自由能。在短程分子间力的液滴形态和相应的线张力的表达式-其中包括不均匀性有限宽度的影响-推导和讨论的温度和增加宽度的函数。宽度依赖的贡献线张力改变其结构在条纹润湿温度T_W1：对于<T_W1 they decay exponentially while for T>T_W1的衰减是代数的。此外，进行了相应的接触角的几何结构，并讨论了其含义。
In this work, we studied the wetting behavior of impinged and stagnant supercooled water nanodroplet at the atomistic scale using molecular dynamics simulations. We show that water droplet represents a retraction behavior from surface groove nanostructure after indicating maximum penetration. There is a threshold for the value of impinging velocity, v*, below which penetration is not observed which depends on size of the surface roughness. This indicates grooves smaller than a certain size can stop water from penetration, considering v~0.5M in practical situations, which is such a useful infor…
It is established that roughness and chemistry play a crucial role in the wetting properties of a substrate. Yet, few studies have analyzed systematically the effect of the non-uniformity in the distribution of texture and surface tension of substrates on its wetting properties. In this work we investigate this issue theoretically and numerically. We propose a continuous model that takes into account the total energy required to create interfaces of a droplet in two possible wetting states: Cassie-Baxter(CB) with air pockets trapped underneath the droplet; and the other characterized by the ho…
