Impact of picoliter droplets on superhydrophobic surfaces with ultralow spreading ratios

Langmuir. 2011 Nov 15;27(22):13897-903. doi: 10.1021/la203329n. Epub 2011 Oct 19.

Abstract

The impact of picoliter-sized water droplets on superhydrophobic CF(4) plasma fluorinated polybutadiene surfaces is investigated with high-speed imaging. Variation of the surface topography by plasmachemical modification enables the dynamics of wetting to be precisely controlled. Final spreading ratios as low as 0.63 can be achieved. A comparison of the maximum spreading ratio and droplet oscillation frequencies to models described in the literature shows that both are found to be much lower than theoretically predicted.