Droplet attraction and coalescence mechanism on textured oil-impregnated surfaces

Haobo Xu, Yimin Zhou, Dan Daniel, Joshua Herzog, Xiaoguang Wang, Volker Sick and Solomon Adera ()
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Haobo Xu: University of Michigan
Yimin Zhou: University of Michigan
Dan Daniel: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
Joshua Herzog: University of Michigan
Xiaoguang Wang: The Ohio State University
Volker Sick: University of Michigan
Solomon Adera: University of Michigan

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Droplets residing on textured oil-impregnated surfaces form a wetting ridge due to the imbalance of interfacial forces at the contact line, leading to a wealth of phenomena not seen on traditional lotus-leaf-inspired non-wetting surfaces. Here, we show that the wetting ridge leads to long-range attraction between millimeter-sized droplets, which coalesce in three distinct stages: droplet attraction, lubricant draining, and droplet merging. Our experiments and model show that the magnitude of the velocity and acceleration at which droplets approach each other horizontally is the same as the vertical oil rise velocity and acceleration in the wetting ridge. Moreover, the droplet coalescence mechanism can be modeled using the classical mass-spring system. The insights gained from this work will inform future fundamental studies on remote droplet interaction on textured oil-impregnated surfaces for optimizing water harvesting and condensation heat transfer.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40279-w

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