Correlation between shape, evaporation mode and mobility of small water droplets on nanorough fibres

• We studied the wettability and mobility of droplets on nanorough fibres in air.
• The mobility of droplets correlates with the droplet conformation.
• The droplet conformation is determined by the droplet–fibre interface.
• By coating fibres with nanoparticles it is possible to control the droplet mobility.

The dynamic wetting behaviour and the mobility of droplets on fibres is a very important factor in coating processes, textile fabrication, in self-cleaning processes and in the filtration of fluids. In principal, filter regeneration depends on the mobility of the droplets on the fibre surface. Mobile droplets tend to coalesce which greatly simplifies their removal from the filter. In this contribution mobility analyses of water droplets on monofilaments in air are performed. Studies of droplet evaporation on pure PET fibres and on nanorough fibres coated with SiO2 nanoparticles of diameters between 6 nm and 50 nm in a hydrophilic binder system were done. We show that the mobility of water droplets correlates with the droplet conformation which in turn is determined by the droplet–fibre interface. We demonstrate that fibre coatings can be used to tailor the conformation and mobility of water droplets. The smaller the nanoparticle diameters in the coating are, the smaller are the contact angles between water droplets and fibre and the better is the mobility of the droplets on the fibre. Our results allow a fast optimization of the fibre surface properties which are directly influencing the contact angle, the mobility and the coalescence of water droplets and thus filter regeneration.

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