Elongated Bouncing and Reduced Contact Time of a Drop in the Janus State

Abstract

Fast drop bouncing is desired in numerous applications. However, it has never been realized on a superheated surface with concurrent contact boiling and the Leidenfrost effect (the so-called Janus thermal state). This is presumably because of the increased drop adhesion as a result of bubbling on a Janus surface. Nevertheless, on a hydrophilic SiNx surface with v-shaped Si microgrooves in this thermal state, an elongated bouncing for a water drop was observed and a small drop contact time of 10.36 ms was obtained. We propose that the elongated bouncing was originated from an asymmetric momentum force created by the vapor bubbles at the rim of the drop. Analytical expressions for the contact time and the asymmetric momentum force were established and the predictions qualitatively agreed with the experimental results. The obtained contact time was the lowest value that has ever been reported in the Janus thermal state. The proposed approach has promising applications in state-of-the-art technologies requiring high liquid mobility.