J.M. Oh

Drops on functional fibers: from barrels to clamshells and back

Drops on cylindrical fibers are a familiar sight, for instance in the form of dew drops on spider webs. They can exist in two competing morphologies, a cylindrically symmetric barrel state completely engulfing the fiber and an asymmetric clamshell state, in which the drop touches the fiber only sideways. Despite their omnipresence and their practical relevance, e.g. for the adherence of drops to fibers in separation technology and filter materials, the physical mechanisms governing the stability of the two morphologies remained elusive. Using electrowetting-functionalized fibers we can tune the wettability of the fibers and thereby reversibly switch between the two states. This allows determination of the stability limits of both morphologies as a function of the two relevant control parameters, namely the contact angle and the liquid volume. While clamshells are found to prevail for large contact angles and small volumes, and barrels prevail for small angles and large volumes, there is also a wide range of intermediate parameter values, for which both morphologies are mechanically stable. Mapping out the energy landscape of the system by numerical minimization of the free energy we find that the barrel state is easily deformed by non-axisymmetric perturbations. Such perturbations facilitate the transition to the clamshell state and thereby the removal of drops from the fibers. From a general perspective, the demonstration of electrowetting-based reversible switching of liquid morphologies on fibers opens up opportunities for designing functional textiles and porous materials for various applications in detergency, filtering, and controlled absorption and release of liquids.

Anisotropic and hindered diffusion of colloidal particles in a closed cylinder.

Video microscopy and particle tracking were used to measure the spatial dependence of the diffusion coefficient (D(α)) of colloidal particles in a closed cylindrical cavity. Both the height and radius of the cylinder were equal to 9.0 particle diameters. The number of trapped particles was varied between 1 and 16, which produced similar results. In the center of the cavity, D(α) turned out to be 0.75D(0) measured in bulk liquid. On approaching the cylindrical wall, a transition region of about 3 particle diameters wide was found in which the radial and azimuthal components of D(α) decrease to respective values of 0.1D(0) and 0.4D(0), indicating asymmetrical diffusion. Hydrodynamic simulations of local drag coefficients for hard spheres produced very good agreement with experimental results. These findings indicate that the hydrodynamic particle-wall interactions are dominant and that the complete 3D geometry of the confinement needs to be taken into account to predict the spatial dependence of diffusion accurately.

Shaken not stirred --On internal flow patterns in oscillating sessile drops

We use numerical (volume of fluid) simulations to study the flow in an oscillating sessile drop immersed in an ambient immiscible fluid. The drop is excited by a sinusoidal variation of the contact angle at variable frequency. We identify the eigenfrequencies and eigenmodes of the drops and analyze the internal flow fields by following the trajectories of tracer particles. The flow fields display an oscillatory component as well as a time-averaged mean component. The latter is oriented upward along the surface of the drop from the contact line towards the apex and downward along the symmetry axis. It vanishes at high and low frequencies and displays a broad maximum around f=200?300?Hz. We show that the frequency dependence of the mean flow can be described in terms of Stokes drift driven by capillary waves that originate from the contact line, in agreement with recent experiments (Mugele F. et al., Lab Chip, 11 (2011) 2011).

Electric-field–driven instabilities on superhydrophobic surfaces

We study possible mechanisms of the transition from the Cassie state to the Wenzel state on superhydrophobic surfaces under the influence of electric fields as a function of the aspect ratio and the wettability of the surface. A simple analytical model for axisymmetric cavities and small deflections of the liquid menisci within the cavities reveals the existence of a novel electric-field–driven instability of the liquid surface. Fully self-consistent calculations of both electric-field distribution and surface profiles show that this instability evolves from a global one towards a local Taylor cone-like instability for increasing aspect ratio of the cavities. A two-dimensional map is derived indicating the prevalence of the interfacial instability as compared to the depinning scenario of the three-phase contact line, which is well known from ordinary superhydrophobic surfaces

Wetting of a drop on a sphere

In this work, the equilibrium morphology of a drop on a sphere is analyzed as a function of the contact angle and drop volume experimentally and with analytical effective interfacial energy calculations. Experimentally, a drop on a sphere geometry is realized in an oil bath by placing a water drop on a sphere coated with a dielectric, of which the radii of curvature are comparable with that of the drop. Electrowetting (EW) is used to change the contact angle of the water drop on the sphere. To validate the applicability of EW and the Lippman-Young equation on nonflat surfaces, we systematically investigate the response of the contact angle to the applied voltage (EW response) for various drop volumes and compared the results with the case of a planar surface. The effective interfacial energy of two competing morphologies, namely, the spherically symmetric completely engulfing and partially engulfing morphologies are calculated analytically. The analytical calculations are then compared to the experimental results to confirm which morphology is energetically more favored for a given contact angle and drop volume. Our findings indicate that the partially engulfing morphology is always the energetically more favorable morphology.