Journal
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
Volume 126, Issue 15, Pages -Publisher
AMER PHYSICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.158004
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Funding
- Swiss National Science Foundation [200021-172827]
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) [200021_172827] Funding Source: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)
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This study found that a stretched soft substrate can exhibit asymmetric wetting behavior, affecting the sliding and static shape of droplets. The stretch significantly influences droplet dynamics, and static droplets appear elongated, all due to droplet-induced deformations of the substrate.
Anisotropically wetting substrates enable useful control of droplet behavior across a range of applications. Usually, these involve chemically or physically patterning the substrate surface, or applying gradients in properties like temperature or electrical field. Here, we show that a flat, stretched, uniform soft substrate also exhibits asymmetric wetting, both in terms of how droplets slide and in their static shape. Droplet dynamics are strongly affected by stretch: glycerol droplets on silicone substrates with a 23% stretch slide 67% faster in the direction parallel to the applied stretch than in the perpendicular direction. Contrary to classical wetting theory, static droplets in equilibrium appear elongated, oriented parallel to the stretch direction. Both effects arise from droplet-induced deformations of the substrate near the contact line.
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