# Stretching and Compressing Capillary Bridges on Hydrophilic, Hydrophobic, and Liquid-Infused Surfaces

## TL;DR

This study compares how capillary bridges behave on different surfaces, showing how surface properties affect bridge geometry and capillary forces.

## Contribution

The paper systematically compares capillary bridge behavior on hydrophilic, hydrophobic, and liquid-infused surfaces using experiments and simulations.

## Key findings

- Contact line pinning dominates on hydrophilic glass with stick–slip motion.
- DMS surfaces show advancing and receding hysteresis in capillary bridges.
- LIS surfaces exhibit minimal force variation and gravity-driven symmetry breaking.

## Abstract

Aqueous capillary
liquid bridges are ubiquitous in nature
and in
technological processes. Here, we comparatively investigate capillary
bridges formed between three distinct types of surfaces: (i) hydrophilic
glass, (ii) hydrophobic dichlorodimethylsilane (DMS)-functionalized
glass, and (iii) liquid-infused (LIS). We combine experimental measurements
and computer simulations of the capillary bridges’ evolution
upon changes in the gap size between the surfaces, deriving in each
case the bridge geometry and the resulting capillary force. The results,
also compared with predictions from the existing theory, follow expected
trends on glass and DMS-functionalized surfaces: contact line pinning
dominates the bridge behavior on glass with a characteristic stick–slip
motion, whereas a pronounced advancing and receding hysteresis is
observed on DMS surfaces. On LIS, the absence of pinning leads to
minimal force variation, gravity-driven breaking of the bridge symmetry,
and possible liquid exchange between LIS through bridge cloaking.
These effects become particularly significant in asymmetric bridge
configurations combining LIS and DMS surfaces, where the transfer
of lubricant from LIS to DMS modifies the effective surface tension
and alters bridge–surface interactions. Our systematic comparison
of the capillary bridge behavior across solid and liquid interfaces
with varying wettability provides a foundation for designing functional
surface applications with controlled bridge–surface interactions.