There remain significant gaps in our ability to predict dewetting and wetting despite the extensive study over the past century. An important reason is the absence of nanoscopic knowledge about the processes near the moving contact line. This experimental study for the first time obtained the liquid morphology within 10 nm of the contact line, which was receding at low speed (U < 50 nm/s). The results put an end to long-standing debate about the microscopic contact angle, which turned out to be varying with the speed as opposed to the constant-angle assumption that has been frequently employed in modeling. Moreover, a residual film of nanometer thickness ubiquitously remained on the solid after the receding contact line passed. This microscopic residual film modified the solid surface and thus made dewetting far from a simple reverse of wetting. A complete scenario for dewetting and coating is provided.

The morphological information on the very front of a spreading liquid is fundamental to our understanding of dynamic wetting. Debate has lasted for years concerning the nanoscopic local angles and the transition from them to the macroscopic counterpart, θD. This study of nonvolatile liquids analyzes the interface profile near the advancing contact line using an advanced atomic force microscopy. The interface is found following the macroscopic profile until bending in a convex profile around 20 nm from the substrate. This shoe-tip-like feature is common in partially wetting while absent for completely wetting, and its curvature varies with advancing speed. The observation ends the long-standing debate about the nanoscopic contact angles and their speed dependency. The convex nanobending provides a mesoscopic link and effectively complicates the dynamic wetting behaviors.Keywords: AFM; bending; contact line; dynamic wetting; film profile; mesoscopic contact angle; microscopic contact angle;

The thin liquid film at the contact line is gaining increasing attention due to its importance in phase-change heat transfer and wettability control. The intermolecular effects within the thin film are usually represented by of disjoining pressure. In the present work, molecular dynamics were employed to investigate the influence of disjoining pressure on thin–film evaporation and condensation in a nanoscale triple-phase system. The simulation domain was a cuboid with argon gas sandwiched between the two solid platinum walls. The two solid walls were fixed at the same temperature while the liquid films had different initial thicknesses thus corresponding to different disjoining pressures. Spontaneous evaporation and condensation were observed at the thicker and the thinner film, respectively. Disjoining pressure together with thermodynamics theories were employed to qualitatively and quantitatively explain the phenomenon. The evaporation fluxes were measured and compared to the Hertz-Knudsen-Schrage model which is based on the kinetic theory of gases. The resulting non-evaporating thickness was measured and compared to the models based on disjoining theory.

The evolution of the multi-phase patterns in water in heated gas-permeable PDMS microchannels was investigated using a heater wire inserted through the channel in design I and embedded alongside the channel in design II. The heating methods created different multi-phase patterns. Bubbles were found in design I generated from the channel walls rather than the wire surface. Interesting droplets-in-bubble pattern, i.e. bunches of micro droplets inside bubbles, was also observed. The channel in design II had a hot side and a cool side with the droplets-in-bubble pattern observed only on the cool side. The evaporation and condensation in the channel created a distillation process that would significantly affect reactants within channel. The multi-phase regimes in the PDMS channels were all summarized with pattern maps and curves. The droplets-in-bubble formation mechanisms were described.

The instability of the Marangoni toroidal flows in microchannels is of interest in various areas such as microfluidics and heat transfer. Using pure liquid as working fluid in this study, the phenomena of Marangoni symmetry-to-asymmetry transition which does not arise from the buoyancy was observed. The experiments used a vertical cylindrical channel and the meniscus was formed at the bottom outlet to minimize the buoyant influences. Two microscopes were used to have top view and side view of the meniscus simultaneously. The Marangoni flow field on the meniscus was obtained by means of tracing particles. It was observed that the Marangoni flow on a concave meniscus was always nearly symmetrical, while that on a convex meniscus was out of symmetry with only one single vortex occupying the whole channel. The experimental results were highly consistent to the simulation results of authors’ previous 3D numerical model (Pan and Wang in Microfluid Nanofluid 9:657, 2010). Theoretical analysis together with newly developed numerical models is employed to dig into the mechanisms. The inward (from the meniscus edge to the center) Marangoni flow is found not as stable as the outward one. Based on the heat transfer analysis, a concave meniscus always has a colder edge thus the flow is outward and stable; while a convex enough meniscus could have an inward flow thus not stable and tends to lose the symmetry. The amplification mechanism of the inward Marangoni flow is comprehensively explained. Two conditions are required for the inward flow to lose the symmetry, i.e., the bulk liquid must be warmer than the meniscus, and the Marangoni number must be above a certain small value.

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is a type of gas permeable media widely used in microfluidic applications. In this work multiphase patterns and boiling curves in PDMS square microchannels were experimentally investigated. Very fine platinum wires with diameter of 50 μm were embedded through the microchannels and serving as heater. The multiphase patterns were visualized by means of high speed CCD camera with microscope. Curves of temperature versus heat flux on the wire heaters were plotted. Based on the evolution of multiphase patterns, five boiling regimes were classified, that is, single phase, bubble formation, slug formation, slug dominated and dry out. Interestingly, the bubbles were generated from the channel walls rather than the heater surface, and so-called “droplets-in-bubble” phenomenon drew attention in which bunches of microdroplets kept forming, growing, and disappearing within the big bubbles. The boiling curves were plotted and compared to boiling in open space and in glass tubes. The heat transfer in the PDMS microchannels got deteriorated when the bubbles formed.

Plenty of studies have been made to have a comprehensive understanding of heat and mass transport at an evaporating meniscus. Recently in this journal Gazzola et al. (2009) reported an asymmetrical flow pattern generated at a convex meniscus while the boundary conditions were symmetrical. In their experiment a vertical micro well was filled up with liquid and the meniscus was held convex above the well outlet. The flow pattern at the meniscus was found having only one single vortex, which was distinct from those symmetrical paired vortexes in literatures (Buffone and Sefiane 2004). In the present work a simulation is conducted to clarify the mechanisms behind the abnormality. Factors including liquid evaporation, vapor transport, and Marangoni effect are considered. It is found that for a convex meniscus as that in the experiment, symmetrical flow pattern is not stable. The transition of symmetry to asymmetry occurs and this is greatly affected by random perturbations. After the asymmetrical flow pattern is established, the perturbations have relatively minor effects on the flow pattern.

When a liquid wets a solid wall, the extended meniscus near the contact line may be divided into three regions: a nonevaporating region, where the liquid is adsorbed on the wall; a transition region or thin-film region, where effects of long-range molecular forces (disjoining pressure) are felt; and an intrinsic meniscus region, where capillary forces dominate. The thin liquid film, with thickness from nanometers up to micrometers, covering the transition region and part of intrinsic meniscus, is gaining interest due to its high heat transfer rates. In this paper, a review was made of the researches on thin-liquid-film evaporation. The major characteristics of thin film, thin-film modeling based on continuum theory, simulations based on molecular dynamics, and thin-film profile and temperature measurements were summarized.