Evaporation of sessile water/ethanol drops in a controlled environment

The evaporation of water/ethanol drops with different mixing ratios was investigated at controlled vapor pressure of water (relative humidity) and ethanol in the background gas. Therefore, a drop of about 1 mu L was deposited on a hydrophobized silicon substrate at room temperature in a closed cell. With a microscope camera we monitored the contact angle, the volume and the contact radius of the drops as function of time. Pure water drops evaporated in constant contact angle mode. The evaporation rate of water decreased with increasing humidity. In mixed drops ethanol did not evaporate completely at first, but a fraction still remained in the drop until the end of evaporation. Depending on ethanol concentration in the drop and on relative humidity in the background gas, water vapor condensed at the beginning of the evaporation of mixed drops. Also, at a high vapor pressure of ethanol, ethanol condensed at the beginning of the evaporation. The presence of ethanol vapor accelerated the total evaporation time of water drops.