Drop Impact on a Superhydrophilic Spot Surrounded by a Superhydrophobic Surface

The spatial variation in the wettability of a surface can have a significant effect on the spreading and retraction behavior of an impacting droplet and hence the overall impact dynamics. Although composite surfaces have proven applications, there is a lack of understanding of droplet impact on surfaces with a sudden jump in wettability. Here, we study the behavior of a liquid drop impacting a composite surface having a superhydrophilic (SHL) spot surrounded by a superhydrophobic (SHB) region. We find that the droplet exhibits different regimes: no-splitting, jetting, and splashing, depending upon the spot size (βs) and the Weber number (We). At a smaller βs, the behavior shifts from the stable to jetting regime and then to the splashing regime, with increasing We. We find that by increasing the value of βs, one can avoid the undesirable splashing and jetting regimes and attain a stable regime even at a higher We. Our study reveals that βs has a significant influence on the maximum spreading diameter βmax at a smaller We but a negligible effect at a higher We. We show that the dominance of capillary energy at a smaller We and viscous energy at a higher We underpins the phenomena. We employ an energy conservation approach to develop an analytical model to predict βmax on a composite SHL–SHB surface by considering the total energy of the system before the impact and at the maximum spread position. We find K = (Re 1/2/We) emerges as a key parameter in the model that accurately predicts the experimentally measured βmax. Our study reveals the existence of an inertia–viscous dominated regime at a smaller K and an inertia–capillary dominated regime at a larger K. The outcome of our study may find applications in stable and precise positioning of impacting droplets.