Impurity-Induced Localized Superhydrophobicity Breakdown
Abstract
A hitherto unknown mechanism for the breakdown of superhydrophobicity, which is the prerequisite for various interface-related applications and phenomena, is reported. When a droplet impacts onto a sphere placed atop a superhydrophobic surface with a droplet-sphere offset, even though the sphere decelerates the droplet, a smaller impact speed than in the case without a sphere impact speed is required for superhydrophobicity breakdown. When the inertia-powered liquid-vapor interface that wraps the sphere with no contact with the sphere surface dominates over the capillarity-driven resistance to interface deformation and the spontaneous spreading of the contact line on the sphere, an air cavity forms near the sphere bottom, and the cavity-collapse-induced jet toward the substrate is revealed to be the reason.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Plasma Applications and Diagnostics
Surface Modification and Superhydrophobicity
Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Nano Letters
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 15
- Pages
- 4995–5001
- Publication date
- 8 April 2026
- Language
- EN