Bubble Movement on Inclined Hydrophobic Surfaces

The movement of a single air bubble on an inclined hydrophobic surface submerged in water, including both the upward- and downward-facing sides of the surface, was investigated. A planar Teflon sheet with an apparent contact angle of a sessile water droplet of 106 degrees was used as a hydrophobic surface. The volume of a bubble and the inclination angle of a Teflon sheet varied in the ranges 5-40 mu L and 0-45 degrees, respectively. The effects of the bubble volume on the adhesion and dynamics of the bubble were studied experimentally on the facing-up and facing-down surfaces of the submerged hydrophobic Teflon sheet, respectively, and compared. The result shows that the sliding angle has an inverse relationship with the bubble volume for both the upward- and downward-facing surfaces. However, at the same given volume, the bubble on the downward-facing surface spreads over a larger area of the hydrophobic surface than the upward-facing surface due to the greater hydrostatic pressure acting on the bubble on the downward-facing surface. This makes the lateral adhesion force of the bubble greater and requires a larger inclination angle to result in sliding.