Impingement of binary nanodroplets on rough surfaces: a molecular dynamics study

Abstract

Abstract Roughness or texture endow the solid surface with the ability of some particular property of water repellency that has been employed in a variety of practical applications, including self-cleaning, icing-resistant, and so forth. However, the understanding of the dynamic evolution of impacting binary droplets on rough surfaces is not satisfactory, especially at the nanoscale. In this work, we investigate the impact process of the binary droplet system, a suspending droplet impacts a sessile one deposited on hydrophobic textured surfaces, via molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Dynamic evolutions from MD simulations under various impact conditions are discussed, including coalescence, spreading, retraction and vibration, and bouncing. The free energy variation during the impacting process is calculated to reveal the mechanisms behind the impact dynamics. The effect of the surface texture on the spreading and retraction is investigated, and the corresponding maximum spreading diameter is also discussed. Finally, we investigate the effect of the surface texture on bouncing behavior, which is found to promote the droplet bouncing at low We range but suppress the bouncing behavior at high We range.