Pancake bouncing of nanodroplets impacting superhydrophobic surfaces

Superhydrophobic surfaces that promote rapid droplet detachment in a pattern of pancake bouncing are fundamentally interesting and important in substantial applications, such as self-cleaning, anti-corrosion, and anti-icing. However, the accurate modeling of the trigger conditions and the underlying dynamic mechanism for the pancake bouncing have yet to be completed. Here, using molecular dynamics simulations, the bouncing dynamics of impacting water nanodroplets on superhydrophobic Pt surfaces with nanopillar arrays are comprehensively studied considering a wide range in the impact Weber number, solid fraction (the pillar width w is kept constant), and pillar height. Correspondingly, the phase diagrams of the bouncing patterns are constructed in the parameter space of the Weber number against the solid fraction. It has been found that there are critical values of the solid fraction and pillar height to induce the pancake bouncing at the moderate Weber number. Furthermore, a theoretical model is developed and quantitatively proclaims the dependence of nanostructure features and the critical Weber number on the pancake bouncing. This work provides rational design principles for attaining a controllable pancake bouncing on structured superhydrophobic surfaces for a wide range of applications. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.