We consider a thin droplet that spreads over a flat, horizontal and chemically heterogeneous surface. The droplet is subjected to changes in its volume though a prescribed, arbitrary spatiotemporal function, which varies slowly and vanishes along the contact line. A matched asymptotics analysis is undertaken to derive a set of evolution equations for the Fourier harmonics of nearly circular contact lines, which is applicable in the long-wave limit of the Stokes equations with slip. Numerical experiments highlight the generally excellent agreement between the long-wave model and the derived equations, demonstrating that these are able to capture many of the features which characterize the intricate interplay between substrate heterogeneities and mass transfer on droplet motion.
We consider the dynamics of thin two-dimensional viscous droplets on chemically heterogeneous surfaces moving under the combined effects of slip, mass transfer and capillarity. The resulting long-wave evolution equation for the droplet thickness is treated analytically via the method of matched asymptotic expansions in the limit of slow mass transfer rates, quasi-static dynamics and vanishingly small slip lengths to deduce a lower-dimensional system of integrodifferential equations for the two moving fronts. We demonstrate that the predictions of the deduced system agree excellently with simul…
We study steady-state thin films on a chemically heterogeneous substrates of finite size, subject to no-flux boundary conditions. Based on the structure of the bifurcation diagram, we classify the one-dimensional steady-state solutions that exist on such substrates into six different branches and develop asymptotic estimates for the steady-states on each branch. We show using perturbation expansions, that leading order solutions provide good predictions of the steady-state thin films on stepwise-patterned substrates. The analysis in one dimension can be extended to axisymmetric solutions. We a…
We examine theoretically the effects of random topographical substrates on the motion of two-dimensional droplets via appropriate statistical approaches. Different random substrate families are represented as stationary random functions. The variance of the droplet shift at both early times and in the long-time limit is deduced and the droplet footprint is found to be a normal random variable at all times. It is shown that substrate roughness decreases droplet wetting, illustrating also the tendency of the droplet to slide without spreading as equilibrium is approached. Our theoretical predict…
We investigate the retention force factor of sessile droplets of pure (ethanol) and binary (water-ethanol) fluids laden with alumina nanoparticles placed on a critically inclined substrate. It is observed that while the critical angle of an ethanol droplet increases with an increase in nanoparticles concentration, for water-ethanol binary droplets, it reaches to plateau and decreases slightly after 0.6 wt.\% nanoparticle loading. The effect of composition and concentration of nanoparticles on the retention force factor is studied, and correlations are proposed for the retention force factor an…
It has been suggested recently that growth and division of a protocell could be modeled by a chemically active droplet with simple chemical reactions driven by an external fuel supply. This model is called the continuum model. Indeed it's numerical simulation reveals a shape instability which results in droplet division into two smaller droplets of equal size resembling cell division [1]. In this paper, we investigate the reduced version of the continuum model, which is called the effective model. This model is studied both in the linear and nonlinear regime. First, we perform a linear stabili…
Temperature distributions and the corresponding vortex structures in an evaporating sessile droplet are obtained by performing detailed numerical calculations. A Marangoni convection induced by thermal conduction processes in the drop and the substrate is demonstrated to be able to result not only in a single vortex, but also in two or three vortices, depending on the ratio of substrate to fluid thermal conductivities, on the substrate thickness and the contact angle. The "phase diagrams" containing information on the number, orientation and spatial location of the vortices for quasistationary…
Individual chemically active drops suspended in a surfactant solution were observed to self-propel spontaneously with straight, helical, or chaotic trajectories. To elucidate how these drops can exhibit such strikingly different dynamics and `decide' what to do, we propose a minimal axisymmetric model of a spherical active drop, and show that simple and linear interface properties can lead to both steady self-propulsion of the droplet as well as chaotic behavior. The model includes two different mobility mechanisms, namely, diffusiophoresis and the Marangoni effect, that convert self-generated…
Evaporation of water droplets on a superhydrophobic substrate, on which the contact line is pinned, is investigated. While previous studies mainly focused on droplets with contact angles smaller than 90^\circ, here we analyze almost the full range of possible contact angles (10^\circ -150^\circ). The greater contact angles and pinned contact lines can be achieved by the use of superhydrophobic Carbon Nanofiber substrates. The time-evolutions of the contact angle and the droplet mass are examined. The experimental data is in good quantitative agreement with the model presented by Popov (Physica…
In this paper, the droplet impact dynamic behavior of droplet on Janus-textured heated substrates is numerically investigate by using the thermal Lattice Boltzmann method. The effect of several factors like the wettability, the Jakob number and the Weber number on the droplet impact dynamic behavior on Janus-textured heated surface are studied in detail. The simulation results show three types of boiling states, i.e., contact boiling, transition boiling and film boiling. The droplets in contact boiling state directionally migrate toward the denser region, while the droplets move toward the spa…
A droplet that impacts onto a solid substrate deforms in a complex dynamics. To extract the principal mechanisms that dominate this dynamics we deploy numerical simulations based on the phase field method. Direct comparison with experiments suggests that a dissipation local to the contact line limits the droplet spreading dynamics and its scaled maximum spreading radius $β_\mathrm{max}$. By assuming linear response through a drag force at the contact line, our simulations rationalize experimental observations for droplet impact on both smooth and rough substrates, measured through a single con…
This study experimentally explores fluid breakup and Leidenfrost dynamics for droplets impacting a heated millimetric post. Using high-speed optical and infrared imaging, we investigate the droplet lifetime, breakup and boiling modes, as well as the cooling performance of different substrates. The post substrate leads to a shorter droplet lifetime and a 20°C higher Leidenfrost temperature compared to a flat substrate, attributed to mixed boiling modes along the height of the post and additional pinning. For temperatures below the Leidenfrost point, in the nucleate boiling regime, the post subs…
Microscopic active droplets are able to swim autonomously in viscous flows: this puzzling feature stems from solute exchanges with the surrounding fluid via surface reactions or their spontaneous solubilisation, and the interfacial flows resulting from these solutes' gradients. Contrary to asymmetric active colloids, these isotropic droplets swim spontaneously by exploiting the nonlinear coupling of solute transport with self-generated Marangoni flows, which is also responsible for secondary transitions to more complex individual and collective dynamics. Thanks to their simple design and their…
When a droplet gently lands on an atomically smooth substrate, it will most likely contact the underlying surface in about 0.1 s. However, theoretical estimation from fluid mechanics predicts a contact time of 10 to 100 s. What causes this large discrepancy, and how does nature speed up contact by 2 orders of magnitude? To probe this fundamental question, we prepare atomically smooth substrates by either coating a liquid film on glass or using a freshly cleaved mica surface, and visualize the droplet contact dynamics with 30 nm resolution. Interestingly, we discover two distinct speed-up appro…
Anisotropically wetting substrates enable useful control of droplet behavior across a range of applications. Usually, these involve chemically or physically patterning the substrate surface, or applying gradients in properties like temperature or electrical field. Here, we show that a flat, stretched, uniform soft substrate also exhibits asymmetric wetting, both in terms of how droplets slide and in their static shape. Droplet dynamics are strongly affected by stretch: glycerol droplets on silicone substrates with a 23\% stretch slide 67\% faster in the direction parallel to the applied stretc…
Thin liquid or gas films are everywhere in nature, from foams to submillimetric bubbles at a free surface, and their rupture leaves a collection of small drops and bubbles. However, the mechanisms at play responsible for the bursting of these films is still in debate. The present study thus aims at understanding the drainage dynamics of the thin air film squeezed by gravity between a millimetric droplet and a smooth solid or a liquid thin film. Solving coupled lubrication equations and analyzing the dominant terms in the solid and liquid film cases, we explain why the drainage is much faster i…
We numerically study the behavior of self-propelled liquid droplets whose motion is triggered by a Marangoni-like flow. This latter is generated by variations of surfactant concentration which affect the droplet surface tension promoting its motion. In the present paper a model for droplets with a third amphiphilic component is adopted. The dynamics is described by Navier-Stokes and convection-diffusion equations, solved by lattice Boltzmann method coupled with finite-difference schemes. We focus on two cases. First the study of self-propulsion of an isolated droplet is carried on and, then, t…
In this paper, the pinning and depinning mechanism of the contact line during droplet evaporation on chemically stripe-patterned surfaces is numerically investigated using a thermal multiphase lattice Boltzmann (LB) model with liquid-vapor phase change. A local force balance in the context of diffuse interfaces is introduced to explain the equilibrium states of droplets on chemically patterned surfaces. It is shown that, when the contact line is pinned on a hydrophobic-hydrophilic boundary, different contact angles can be interpreted as the variation of the length of the contact line occupied …
We demonstrate droplet manipulation using electric signals to induce the liquid to wet or dewet on a hydrophilic conductive substrate in the air without adding layers. In this phenomenon, the contact angle changes more than 15° or -20° by using the ionic surfactant mediated droplets, with only \pm3 volts of the actuation voltage.
When a droplet impacts a fabric mesh at a sufficiently high impact velocity, it not only spreads over the fabric but also penetrate its pores. To determine the influence of this liquid penetration of the fabric on droplet spreading on thin fabric meshes, we measured the droplet spreading ratio on fabric with and without an underlying substrate using a high-speed camera. For fabrics without a substrate, the droplet spreading ratio is reduced as the fabric penetration by the liquid reduces the droplet volume spreading on top of the fabric. Using entropic lattice Boltzmann simulations, we find th…
We investigate numerically quasi-steady internal flows in an axially symmetrical evaporating sessile droplet depending on the ratio of substrate to fluid thermal conductivities, fluid volatility, contact angle and droplet size. Temperature distributions and vortex structures are obtained for droplets of 1-hexanol, 1-butanol and ethanol. To this purpose, the hydrodynamics of an evaporating sessile drop, effects of the thermal conduction in the droplet and substrate and diffusion of vapor in air have been jointly taken into account. The equations have been solved by finite element method using A…
It is demonstrated that non-coalescent droplets of acetone can be formed on liquid substrates. The fluid flows around and in an acetone droplet hovering on water are recorded to shed light on the mechanisms which might lead to non-coalescence. For sufficiently low impact velocities, droplets undergo a damped oscillation on the surface of the liquid substrate but at higher velocities clean bounce-off occurs. Comparisons of experimentally observed static configurations of floating droplets to predictions from a theoretical model for a small non-wetting rigid sphere resting on a liquid substrate …
Droplets move on substrates with a spatio-temporal wettability pattern as generated, for example, on light-switchable surfaces. To study such cases, we implement the boundary-element method to solve the governing Stokes equations for the fluid flow field inside and on the surface of a droplet and supplement it by the Cox-Voinov law for the dynamics of the contact line. Our approach reproduces the relaxation of an axisymmetric droplet in experiments, which we initiate by instantaneously switching the uniform wettability of a substrate quantified by the equilibrium contact angle. In a step profi…
Liquid droplets usually wet smooth and homogeneous substrates isotropically. Recent research works have revealed that droplets sit, slide and spread anisotropically on uniaxially stretched soft substrates, showing an enhanced wettability and contact line mobility along the stretching direction. This phenomenon arises from the anisotropic deformation of the substrate below the contact line. Here, we investigate how the stretching of soft substrates affects droplets drying. We observe that water droplet evaporates with an elongated non-circular contact line on the stretched substrates and switch…
To understand the non-equilibrium relaxation dynamics of a liquid droplet on a switchable substrate the interplay of different length- and time-scales needs to be understood. We present a method to map the microscopic information, resulting from a molecular dynamics simulation, to a mesoscopic scale, reflected by a thin film model. After a discussion of the mapping procedure we first analyze the relaxation of a liquid droplet upon switching the wettability of the substrate. Further, we show that a nearly identical mapping procedure can be used for the description of two coalescing droplets. Wi…
Active droplets swim as a result of the nonlinear advective coupling of the distribution of chemical species they consume or release with the Marangoni flows created by their non-uniform surface distribution. Most existing models focus on the self-propulsion of a single droplet in an unbounded fluid, which arises when diffusion is slow enough (i.e. beyond a critical Péclet number, $\mbox{Pe}_c$). Despite its experimental relevance, the coupled dynamics of multiple droplets and/or collision with a wall remains mostly unexplored. Using a novel approach based on a moving fitted bispherical grid, …
Droplets splash when they impact dry, flat substrates above a critical velocity that depends on parameters such as droplet size, viscosity and air pressure. By imaging ethanol drops impacting silicone gels of different stiffnesses we show that substrate stiffness also affects the splashing threshold. Splashing is reduced or even eliminated: droplets on the softest substrates need over 70\% more kinetic energy to splash than they do on rigid substrates. We show that this is due to energy losses caused by deformations of soft substrates during the first few microseconds of impact. We find that s…
Droplets confined in a microfluidic channel often exhibit intriguing shapes, primarily attributable to complex hydrodynamic interactions over small scales. We show that effect of varied substrate wettability conditions may further complicate these interactions remarkably, and often non-trivially. Our studies reveal that the combined influence of substrate wettability and fluidic confinement eventually culminates towards influencing the droplet transients, distortion of the local shear flow field, as well as drop stabilization against breakup or detachment, allowing one to develop different reg…
The numerical prediction of droplet base radius and contact angle depends on the choice of characteristic radius and height of droplet. In this study, a developed model on the basis of lubrication approximation is used to investigate the effect of characteristic parameters on the spreading of droplets over substrates. Based on two main stages of spreading (initial and equilibrium), characteristic radius and height were first evaluated. The model predictions were then compared with experimental results in literature for both impermeable and permeable substrates. The study provides evidence that…
The article reports droplet evaporation kinetics on inclined substrates. Comprehensive experimental and theoretical analyses of the droplet evaporation behaviour for different substrate declination, wettability and temperatures have been presented. Sessile droplets with substrate declination exhibit distorted shape and evaporate at different rates compared to droplets on the same horizontal substrate and is characterized by more often changes in regimes of evaporation. The slip stick and jump stick modes are prominent during evaporation. For droplets on inclined substrates, the evaporative flu…
We experimentally investigate the evaporation dynamics of sessile droplets of a fixed volume consisting of different compositions of ethanol-water binary mixture at different substrate temperatures (T_s). At T_s=25oC, we observe pinned-stage linear evaporation for pure droplets, but a binary droplet undergoes two distinct evaporation stages: an early pinned stage and a later receding stage. In the binary droplet, the more volatile ethanol, evaporates faster leading to a nonlinear trend in the evaporation process at the early stage. The phenomenon observed in the present study at T_s=25oC is si…
Effects of substrate temperature, substrate wettability and particles concentration are experimentally investigated for evaporation of a sessile water droplet containing colloidal particles. Time-varying droplet shapes and temperature of the liquid-gas interface are measured using high-speed visualization and infrared thermography, respectively. The motion of the particles inside the evaporating droplet is qualitatively visualized by an optical microscope and profile of final particle deposit is measured by an optical profilometer. On a non-heated hydrophilic substrate, a ring-like deposit for…
The present study experimentally and numerically investigates the evaporation and resultant patterns of dried deposits of aqueous colloidal sessile droplets, when the droplets are initially elevated to a high temperature before being placed on a substrate held at ambient temperature. The system is then released for natural evaporation without applying any external perturbation. Infrared thermography and optical profilometry were used as essential tools for interfacial temperature measurements and quantification of the coffee-ring dimensions, respectively. Initially, a significant temperature g…
Young's law fails on soft solid and liquid substrates where there are substantial deformations near the contact line. On liquid substrates, this is captured by Neumann's classic analysis, which provides a geometrical construction for minimising the interfacial free energy. On soft solids, the total free energy includes an additional contribution from elasticity. A linear-elastic model incorporating an out-of-plane restoring force due to solid surface tension was recently shown to accurately predict the equilibrium shape of a thin elastic film due to a large sessile droplet. Here, we extend thi…
The dynamics of droplets on substrates has a strong impact on microfluidic systems ranging from commercially available lab-on-chip systems to state of the art developments in open microfluidics. Coalescence of micro and nano droplets on a substrate has been studied extensively, but in previous studies the focus has been on the interface movement. Here, we use computer simulations to investigate coalescence of droplets immersed in another liquid, in an inertia-dominated regime and also investigate the droplet's internal flow field. It is found that qualitatively the dynamics is similar to coale…
Motion of chemically driven droplets is analyzed by applying a solvability condition of perturbed hydrodynamic equations affected by the adsorbate concentration. Conditions for traveling bifurcation analogous to a similar transition in activator-inhibitor systems are obtained. It is shown that interaction of droplets leads to either scattering of mobile droplets or formation of regular patterns, respectively, at low or high adsorbate diffusivity. The same method is applied to droplets running on growing terrace edges during surface freezing.
We study unsteady internal flows in a sessile droplet of capillary size evaporating in constant contact line mode on a heated substrate. Three-dimensional simulations of internal flows in evaporating droplets of ethanol and silicone oil have been carried out. For describing the Marangoni flows we find it necessary to account for the diffusion of vapor in air, the thermal conduction in all three phases and thermal radiation. The equations have been solved numerically by finite element method using ANSYS Fluent. As a result of the simulations, the nonstationary behavior of Bénard-Marangoni (BM) …
Numerous cell-types have shown a remarkable ability to detect and move along gradients in stiffness of an underlying substrate -- a process known as durotaxis. The mechanisms underlying durotaxis are still unresolved, but generally believed to involve active sensing and locomotion. Here, we show that simple liquid droplets also undergo durotaxis. By modulating substrate stiffness, we obtain fine control of droplet position on soft, flat substrates. Unlike other control mechanisms, droplet durotaxis works without imposing chemical, thermal, electrical or topographical gradients. This enables a …
