Lifting a sessile oil drop from a superamphiphobic surface with an impacting one.
Olinka Ramírez-SotoVatsal SanjayDetlef LohseJonathan T PhamDoris VollmerPublished in: Science advances (2020)
Colliding drops are encountered in everyday technologies and natural processes, from combustion engines and commodity sprays to raindrops and cloud formation. The outcome of a collision depends on many factors, including the impact velocity and the degree of alignment, and intrinsic properties like surface tension. Yet, little is known on binary impact dynamics of low-surface-tension drops on a low-wetting surface. We investigate the dynamics of an oil drop impacting an identical sessile drop sitting on a superamphiphobic surface. We observe five rebound scenarios, four of which do not involve coalescence. We describe two previously unexplored cases for sessile drop liftoff, resulting from drop-on-drop impact. Numerical simulations quantitatively reproduce the rebound scenarios and enable quantification of velocity profiles, energy transfer, and viscous dissipation. Our results illustrate how varying the offset from head-on alignment and the impact velocity results in controllable rebound dynamics for oil drop collisions on superamphiphobic surfaces.