Surfactant-Induced Suppression of the Thermocapillary Flow in Evaporating Water Droplets

The suppression of a thermocapillary flow (Marangoni flow) by a nonionic surfactant is experimentally investigated for evaporating pure water droplets on hydrophobic substrates. The experiment shows that as the initial concentration of the surfactant increases, the velocity and lifetime of the flow monotonically decrease. The result confirms the no-slip boundary condition at a liquid-air interface, which is explained on the basis of the previous model regarding the effect of surfactants on the no-slip condition. Interestingly, at an initial concentration much less than a critical value, it is found that depinning of the contact line occurs during the early stage of evaporation, which is ascribed to a reduction in the contact angle hysteresis owing to the presence of the Marangoni flow.