Nucleation scenarios for wetting transition on textured surfaces: The effect of contact angle hysteresis

Abstract

The wettability of textured surfaces is strongly dependent on the contact state of a small drop deposited on them. We consider transitions via nucleation between two representative contact states of Cassie and Wenzel when there exists hysteresis in the contact angle. We find that the effect of the hysteresis is significant: a drop can be trapped by various states which are neither Cassie nor Wenzel states in the conventional sense.