Difference between revisions of "Contact angle"

Revision as of 02:02, 2 October 2012

Edited by Pichet Adstamongkonkul, AP225, Fall 2011

Introduction

The contact angle is a quantitative measure of the wettability of the surface, represented by the angle at which a liquid or vapor interface makes with a solid surface.[1] The angle is specific and determined by the interactions across the three interfaces. Typically, the contact angle is illustrated by a drop of liquid on the surface. The shape of the drop is governed by the Young-Laplace equation (contact angle is incorporated as a boundary condition of the equation.) Normally, the contact angle can be measured using the so-calledgoniometer.[2]

 The contact angle is independent of geometry and hence a material property. Recent publications on contact angles on deformable surfaces can be included.

Connection to Capillarity/Wettability

The figure (from the lecture) illustrated different contact angles corresponding to different wettability of the surface, which depends on the relative hydrophobicity/ hydrophilicity of the surface compared to the liquid. Conventionally, the contact angle is measured as the angle between the solid surface and the liquid drop surface. In other words, the contact angle is the angle between the solid-liquid interfacial (surface) force (denoted as gamma_SL) and the surface tension or the liquid-vapor interfacial force (denoted as gamma_LG). The larger the angle, the more the drop is repelled from the surface, indicating a relatively higher hydrophobicity of the surface, in the case of water drop.

If the liquid strongly attracts to the surface, the drop of the liquid would spread out on the solid surface. On highly hydrophobic surfaces, the contact angle can be as big as <math>-120^o</math>. However, materials with high degree of roughness on the surface can increase the angle up to <math>-150^o</math>; the materials in this group are called superhydrophobic surfaces.[2]

From the surface tensions at all three interfaces, we can explicitly write the Young equation that the system must satisfy at equilibrium:

<math>0=\gamma_{SG}-\gamma_{SL}-\gamma_{LG}cos(\theta_c)</math> where <math>\theta_c</math> is the contact angle.[3]

In the capillary effect, the driving force that causes water to go up the capillary is the net surface tension, balancing between the solid-vapor interfacial tension that pulls in the upward direction , and the solid-liquid interfacial tension that pulls downward.

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 [[Bacillus subtilis spreads by surfing on waves of surfactant]]
+[[Structure of adhesive emulsions]]
+[[Eutectic Gallium-Indium (EGaIn): A Liquid Metal Alloy for the Formation of Stable Structures in Microchannels at Room Temperature]]
+[[Dewetting Instability during the Formation of Polymersomes from Block-Copolymer-Stabilized Double Emulsions]]
+[[Amphiphilic Crescent-Moon-Shaped Microparticles Formed by Selective Adsorption of Colloids]]
+[[Viscoelastic properties of oxide-coated liquid metals]]
+[[Electric-field-induced capillary attraction between like-charged particles at liquid interfaces]]
+[[Short-time self-diffusion of nearly hard spheres at an oil–water interface]]
+[[Drop formation in non-planar microfluidic devices]]
+[[Dewetting-Induced Membrane Formation by Adhesion of Amphiphile-Laden Interfaces]]
+[[Multicompartment Polymersomes from Double Emulsions]]
+[[Hierarchical Porous Materials Made by Drying Complex Suspensions]]
+[[Microfluidic Fabrication of Monodisperse Biocompatible and Biodegradable Polymersomes with Controlled Permeability]]
+[[Dynamics of Drying in 3D Porous Media]]

Difference between revisions of "Contact angle"

Revision as of 02:02, 2 October 2012

Contents

Introduction

Connection to Capillarity/Wettability

References

Keyword in references:

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