Pinning mediated coalescence-induced lateral droplet motion on nanotextured superhydrophobic surface

TL;DR

This study investigates how coalescence between different wetting state droplets on nanotextured superhydrophobic surfaces induces in-plane droplet motion, revealing conditions that lead to droplet detachment and roaming during condensation.

Contribution

It provides a systematic experimental analysis of coalescence-induced lateral motion between CS and PW droplets on nanotextured surfaces with hydrophilic spots, highlighting the conditions for droplet detachment.

Findings

Coalescence between CS and PW droplets generates significant in-plane momentum.

Droplets of similar size (~3-3.5 times the hydrophilic spot) suppress vertical momentum, promoting in-plane motion.

Merged droplets can detach and move laterally after coalescence under specific size conditions.

Abstract

Droplets coalescing on a superhydrophobic surface exhibit coalescence-induced droplet jumping. However, water vapor condensing on a superhydrophobic surface can result in simultaneous formation of condensate droplets with two distinct wetting states, cassie state (CS) and partially wetting (PW) state. Droplets in PW state exhibit high contact angle but are connected to the substrate though a thin liquid condensate column. Coalescence between CS and PW droplets has been recently identified as a possible mechanism for generating droplets exhibiting in-plane roaming motion during dropwise condensation on nanotextured superhydrophobic surfaces. Here, we systematically investigate this phenomenon through experiments on coalescence between sessile droplets in CS and PW state on a nanostructured superhydrophobic surface endowed with a micro-scale hydrophilic spot. Here, a sessile droplet carefully placed on the hydrophilic spot simulates the PW state. Overall, our investigations demonstrate that when a CS droplet coalesces with a PW droplet pinned to a hydrophilic defect, the interaction generates substantial in-plane momentum. We find that when the coalescing CS and PW droplets are nearly of the same size and about ~3 to ~3.5 times the size of the hydrophilic spot pinning the PW droplet, the vertical momentum generation is nearly completely suppressed, and the resulting maxima in in-plane momentum results in detachment of merged droplet from hydrophilic spot and its subsequent in-plane motion.