Effects of Surface Topography and Colloid Particles on the Evaporation Kinetics of Sessile Droplets on Superhydrophobic Surfaces

In this paper, the evaporation kinetics of microliter-sized sessile droplets of gold colloids (∼250 nm in particle diameters) was experimentally studied on micropatterned superhydrophobic surfaces, compared with those of pure water on a planar hydrophobic surface. The structural microtopography of superhydrophobic surfaces was designed to have a constant air fraction (∼0.8) but varying array patterns including pillars, lines, and wells. During evaporation in a room condition, the superhydrophobic surfaces exhibited a stronger pinning effect than a planar surface, especially in the initial evaporation stage, with significant variations by the surface topographies. Compared to a pure water droplet, colloids exhibited further promoted pinning effects, mainly in the later stage of evaporation. While the well-known evaporative mass transport law of sessile droplets (i.e., linear law of “V2/3∝t”) was generally applicable to the superhydrophobic surfaces, much smaller evaporation rate constants were measured on the patterned superhydrophobic surfaces than on a planar hydrophobic surface. A colloidal droplet further showed lower evaporation rate constants than a pure water droplet as the concentration of particles in the droplets increased over the evaporation. Such transition was more dramatic on a planar surface than on the micropatterned surfaces. Whereas there was no clear correlation between evaporation mode and the evaporation rate observed on the superhydrophobic surfaces, the prominent decrease of the evaporation rate on the planar hydrophobic surface was accompanied with the onset of a second pinning mode.