2004/03/31 by Uwe Thiele, Karin John, Markus Bär · 3 citations
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer #Fluid Dynamics and Thin Films #Surface Modification and Superhydrophobicity #cond-mat.soft #physics.chem-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.93.027802
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 027802 (2004) · 4 pages, 5 figures
arxiv created 2004/05/07 · openalex publication_date 2004/07/09 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We propose coupled evolution equations for the thickness of a liquid film and the density of an adsorbate layer on a partially wetting solid substrate. Therein, running droplets are studied assuming a chemical reaction underneath the droplets that induces a wettability gradient on the substrate and provides the driving force for droplet motion. Two different regimes for moving droplets--reaction-limited and saturated regime--are described. They correspond to increasing and decreasing velocities with increasing reaction rates and droplet sizes, respectively. The existence of the two regimes offers a natural explanation of prior experimental observations.