Effects of Free Surface Evaporation on Water Nano-Droplet Wetting Kinetics: A Molecular Dynamics Study

The dynamic wetting of water nano-droplet with evaporation on the heated gold substrate was examined using molecular dynamics simulation. Various substrate and droplet pre-heated temperatures were calculated to obtained different evaporating rates. Water molecules attachment-detachment details were traced near the contact line region to show the microscopic details and evidences for the spreading-evaporating droplet. The increasing substrate temperature greatly affected the dynamic wetting process, while the initial temperature of water droplet had very limited effects. The effects of free surface evaporation on wetting kinetics for both hydrophobic and hydrophilic substrates were examined. The radius versus time curves agree well with the Molecular kinetic theory (MKT) for spreading without evaporation and deviate from the MKT for the spreading with evaporation. The enhancement on wetting kinetics due to evaporation can be attributed to the reducing of liquid-vapor surface tension and the strengthening in water molecules transport in contact line region and bulk droplet.