Model heterogeneous surfaces consisting of alternating and
parallel 2.55 μm hydrophobic and 2.45 μm
hydrophilic strips were prepared on a gold film by patterning
self-assembled monolayers of hexadecanethiol
and mercaptohexadecanoic acid using an elastomer stamp. The
advancing and receding contact angles
were measured for liquid drops (distilled water, buffer solutions with
pH = 8.0, 10.0, and 11.0, ethylene
glycol, glycerol, and formamide) placed on this specially prepared
surface. Contortion of the three-phase
contact line is a significant property of these systems. Both
contact angles, advancing and receding, were
2−10° lower when measured with the strips normal to the three-phase
contact line than those measured
with the strips tangential to the three-phase contact line. For
most of the systems examined, experimental
contact angles, when measured for the liquid drop edge situated along
the strips of the model heterogeneous
surface (noncontorted three-phase contact line), were in an agreement
with theoretical values calculated
from the Cassie equation. Also, for most of the systems examined,
there was an agreement of experimental
contact angles, as measured for the liquid drop edge located normal to
the strips (i.e., when the three-phase
contact line was contorted), with theory calculated from the modified
Cassie equation, including the line-tension term. Only in selected cases could the theory as expressed
by the Cassie equation or the modified
Cassie equation not predict the experimental contact angles. These
were the systems in which the liquid
phase interacted strongly with COOH groups of the self-assembled
monolayer and completely spread over
this hydrophilic portion of the surface.
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