2020/04/08 by Dan Daniel, Daniel, Dan, Yunita Florida +9
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions #FOS: Physical sciences #Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn) #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) #Surface Modification and Superhydrophobicity
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2004.04118
openalex publication_date 2020/04/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Surface wettability has a huge influence on its functional properties. For example, to minimize smudging, surfaces should be able to repel oil droplets. To quantify surface wettability, the most common approach is to measure the contact angles of a liquid droplet on the surface. While well-established and relatively easy to perform, contact angle measurements are crude and imprecise; moreover, they cannot spatially resolve surface heterogeneities that can contribute to surface fouling. To address these shortcomings, we report on using an Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) technique to quantitatively measure the interaction forces between a micro-droplet and a surface with piconewton force resolution. We show how our technique can be used to spatially map topographical and chemical heterogeneities with micron resolution.