A comparison of bioinspired slippery and superhydrophobic surfaces: Micro-droplet impact

Slippery lubricant impregnated surfaces (SLIPSs/LISs) exhibit remarkable features of repellency and droplet mobility to a broad range of complex fluids. Their performance in micro-droplet repellency has received less attention. In this study, the anti-wetting performance of SLIPSs in comparison to superhydrophobic surfaces (SHSs) is investigated for the micro-droplet impact on different textured surfaces. Different series of square-pillar arrays are modeled to consider the effect of surface morphology on droplet hydrodynamics. A multiphase numerical model in conjunction with an accurate contact angle method has been implemented to analyze details of three immiscible phases during the droplet impact on the SLIPS. Our findings revealed that on the SLIPS with a low-density micro-textured surface where the effect of lubricant is more significant, droplet repellency and mobility are improved compared to SHSs. It was illustrated that on the SLIPS, droplet pinning decreased significantly and in low Weber number cases where the effect of lubricant is more noticeable, partial bouncing occurred. It was also observed that slippery surfaces with a low-density of micro-pillars exhibit bouncing behavior, which indicated the repellency effect of lubricant in droplet hydrodynamics. Although micro-droplets failed to recoil at a higher Weber number ( W e similar or equal to 160) on both the SHS and the SLIPS, droplet penetration within the micro-structured surface was considerably smaller on the SLIPS.

Automated summary

The study found that on low-density micro-textured surfaces, the impact of the lubricant is more significant, resulting in improved droplet repellency and mobility on SLIPSs compared to SHSs.