Rebound suppression of a droplet impact on a supersolvophobic surface by a small amount of polymer additives

Abstract: A small amount of polymer dissolved in a droplet suppresses droplet rebound when it impinges on a supersolvophobic surface. This work investigates impacting dynamics of a droplet of dilute polymer solution depending on the molecular weight and the concentration of the polymer by using multi-body dissipative particle dynamics simulations. Either the longer polymer or the high polymer concentration suppresses rebound of a droplet although its shear viscosity and the liquid-vapor surface tension are not different from those of a pure solvent droplet. We found a new mechanism of the anti-rebound in which the resistance is applied against the hopping motion, while behavior of the non-rebounding droplet at the earlier spreading and retraction stages is same as for the rebounding droplets. Two polymer contributions to reducing the rebound tendency are quantitatively analyzed: the alteration of the substrate wettability by the polymer adsorption and the polymer elongation force.