Liquid droplet movement on horizontal surface with gradient surface energy

Abstract

A surface with gradient surface energy was fabricated on a silicon wafer by using the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technology with the dodecyltrichlorosilane (C₁₂H₂₅Cl₃Si) vapor which was adsorbed chemically on the surface of the silicon wafer to form a self-assemble monolayer (ASM) and thus a gradient profile of wettability. The microscopic contours of the gradient surface were measured with Seiko SPA400 atom force microscope (AFM). And the surface wettability profile was characterized by the sessile drop method, measuring the contact angle of fine water droplets that lay on the gradient surface, to represent the distribution of the surface energy on the surface. Using a high-speed video imaging system, the motion of water droplet on the horizontal gradient surface was visualized and the transient velocity was measured under ambient condition. The experimental results show that the liquid droplets can be driven to move from hydrophobic side to hydrophilic side on the horizontal gradient surface and the velocity of droplet can reach up to 40 mm/s. In addition, the motion of the water droplet can be generally divided into two stages: an acceleration stage and a deceleration stage. The droplet presents a squirming movement on the surface with a lower peak velocity and a larger extent of deceleration motion. And the static advancing contact angle of the droplet is obviously larger than the dynamic advancing contact angle on the gradient energy surface.