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ISBN: 978-1-56700-537-0

ISBN Online: 978-1-56700-538-7

ISSN Online: 2377-424X

International Heat Transfer Conference 17
August, 14-18, 2023, Cape Town, South Africa

Molecular dynamic simulation of substrate wettability and spreading dynamics of nanodroplets

Get access (open in a dialog) DOI: 10.1615/IHTC17.130-120
8 pages

Abstract

The wettability of a substrate and the spreading dynamics of liquid droplet, which are significantly influenced by solid-liquid contact, have long been the fundamental topics of phase change and heat transfer enhancement. Both experiments and simulations have demonstrated that enhancing the strength of solid-liquid interaction can increase the driving force and the resistance to spreading simultaneously, and the rate at which the solid is wetted by liquid droplets reaches the maximum at some intermediate strength. However, it is still not fully comprehended how the interaction between solid and liquid affects wettability and the spreading process. In the present molecular dynamic simulation and study, by adjusting the collision diameter and depth of the potential well in 12-6 Leonard-Jones potentials between water molecules and substrate atoms, it is explored how a water nanodroplet spreads on a flat substrate under a wide variety strength of solid-liquid contact. Our recent study has found that the substrate changes from being hydrophobic to hydrophilic as the strength of the solid-liquid interaction increases. It's also shown that higher temperature also helps to increase the hydrophilicity of substrates.