Early stage of nanodroplet impact on solid wall

What is it about?

The spreading of a tiny liquid droplet impacting a solid wall depends on various properties of the droplet as well as the wall. We performed simulations to understand the spreading of nanodroplets under different conditions at the early stages of impact. The simulation considered individual molecules that make up a droplet, the forces among these molecules, as well as the forces between the molecules and the wall. Scenarios arising from different strengths of these forces and different impact speeds were analyzed in detail for different layers above the wall surface with passing time after impact.

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Why is it important?

Our simulations revealed the effects of the liquid–wall interaction strength and impact velocity on the way nanodroplets spread after impact. For the early stage of impact, we established a relationship between the spread area and time elapsed that was independent of the liquid–wall interaction strength. This simulation is expected to be useful to predict droplet behavior for various applications such as drug delivery, industrial processes involving sprays, the food industry, molecular detection, imaging, cell biology, and perhaps even future electronic devices.