Droplet Removal by Capillary Lifting

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Sun, Ke, Panter, Jack R., Shek, Alvin C. M., Gizaw, Yonas, Voïtchovsky, Kislon, Kusumaatmaja, Halim
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Sun, Ke
Panter, Jack R.
Shek, Alvin C. M.
Gizaw, Yonas
Voïtchovsky, Kislon
Kusumaatmaja, Halim
author_facet Sun, Ke
Panter, Jack R.
Shek, Alvin C. M.
Gizaw, Yonas
Voïtchovsky, Kislon
Kusumaatmaja, Halim
contents The removal of liquid droplets from solid surfaces is central to cleaning, coatings and oil recovery. Here we investigate liquid droplets capillary lifted by an immiscible working liquid. The rising working liquid triggers the formation of a capillary bridge between the solid and the air interface, which can lead to full, partial, or no droplet dewetting. Our theoretical model predicts, and experiments confirm, that the effectiveness of droplet removal can be tuned by manipulating the droplet contact angle with the solid and the interfacial tensions at play. Significantly, dewetting can be enhanced by employing working liquids with high interfacial tension, in contrast to common surface cleaning strategies where surfactants are used to reduce interfacial tension. Our findings can open new avenues for droplet manipulation with reduced resources and more sustainable environmental impact.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_02481
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Droplet Removal by Capillary Lifting
Sun, Ke
Panter, Jack R.
Shek, Alvin C. M.
Gizaw, Yonas
Voïtchovsky, Kislon
Kusumaatmaja, Halim
Soft Condensed Matter
The removal of liquid droplets from solid surfaces is central to cleaning, coatings and oil recovery. Here we investigate liquid droplets capillary lifted by an immiscible working liquid. The rising working liquid triggers the formation of a capillary bridge between the solid and the air interface, which can lead to full, partial, or no droplet dewetting. Our theoretical model predicts, and experiments confirm, that the effectiveness of droplet removal can be tuned by manipulating the droplet contact angle with the solid and the interfacial tensions at play. Significantly, dewetting can be enhanced by employing working liquids with high interfacial tension, in contrast to common surface cleaning strategies where surfactants are used to reduce interfacial tension. Our findings can open new avenues for droplet manipulation with reduced resources and more sustainable environmental impact.
title Droplet Removal by Capillary Lifting
topic Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.02481