https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/s10189-023-00374-8
Regular Article - Soft Matter
Drying behaviour of nanofluid sessile droplets on self-affine vis-à-vis corrugated nanorough surfaces
Surface Modification and Applications Laboratory (SMAL), Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, Nangal Road, 140001, Rupnagar, Punjab, India
Received:
1
September
2023
Accepted:
24
October
2023
Published online:
24
November
2023
In recent years, evaporative self-assembly of sessile droplets has gained considerable attention owing to its wide applicability in many areas. While the phenomenon is well studied for smooth and isotropically rough (self-affine) surfaces, investigations comparing the outcomes on self-affine vis-à-vis corrugated surfaces remains to be done. In this experimental work, we compare the wetting and evaporation dynamics of nano-colloidal microlitre droplets on self-affine and corrugated nanorough surfaces having identical roughnesses and interface properties. The coupled influence of particle size, concentration, and surface structuring has been explored. Differences in wettability and evaporation dynamics are observed, which are explained via the interaction between wetting fluid and anisotropic surface roughness. Our findings exhibit different temporal behaviour of contact radius and angle in the evaporation process of the droplets. Further, the corrugated surface exhibits anisotropic wettability with a monotonic change in droplet shape as evaporation proceeds, finally giving rise to irregular dried patterns. The scaled rim width and crack spacing of the particulate deposits are examined. Our results can inspire fabrication of surfaces that can facilitate direction-dependent droplet motion for specific applications.
Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/s10189-023-00374-8.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, SIF and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2023. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
