Droplet coalescence on water repellant surfaces

Abstract

We report our hydrodynamic and energy analyses of droplet coalescence on water repellent surfaces including hydrophobic, superhydrophobic and oil-infused superhydrophobic surfaces. The receding contact angle has significant effects on the contact line dynamics since the contact line dissipation was more significant during the receding mode than advancing. The contact line dynamics is modeled by the damped harmonic oscillation equation, which shows that the damping ratio and angular frequency of merged droplets decrease as the receding contact angle increases. The fast contact line relaxation and the resulting decrease in base area during coalescence were crucial to enhance the mobility of coalescing sessile droplets by releasing more surface energy with reducing dissipation loss. The superhydrophobic surface converts ∼42% of the released surface energy to the kinetic energy via coalescence before the merged droplet jumps away from the surface, while oil-infused superhydrophobic and hydrophobic surfaces convert ∼30% and ∼22%, respectively, for the corresponding time. This work clarifies the mechanisms of the contact line relaxation and energy conversion during the droplet coalescence on water repellent surfaces, and helps develop water repellent condensers.