Droplet Asymmetric Bouncing on Inclined Superhydrophobic Surfaces

ACS Omega. 2019 Jul 16;4(7):12238-12243. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.9b01348. eCollection 2019 Jul 31.

Abstract

A droplet impacting on inclined surfaces yields more complex outcomes than on normal impact and the effect of the inclining angle on the impact dynamics is still in controversy. Here, we show that a drop impacting on inclined superhydrophobic surfaces exhibits an asymmetric rebound with a distinctive spreading and retraction along the lateral and tangential directions. Meanwhile, there is an obvious contact time reduction with the increase of the inclining angle and impact velocity. We demonstrate that the contact time reduction is attributed to the asymmetric drop spreading and retraction, which endows a fast drop detachment. Simple analyses are presented to interpret this phenomenon, which is in a good agreement with the experimental results.