Anisotropic wetting of droplets on stripe-patterned chemically heterogeneous surfaces: effect of length ratio and deposition position

The equilibrium state of a droplet deposited on chemically heterogeneous surfaces is studied by using many-body dissipative particle dynamics. The length ratio covers 2 orders from 0.01 to 1 and allows a systematical inspection of the changes of the droplet shape, contact angle, and aspect ratio with this parameter. Moreover, a new parameter, global aspect ratio, is introduced to better characterize the distortion of the droplet. It is found that the droplet shape at the equilibrium stage strongly lies on the deposition position when the length ratio is beyond 0.1. Additionally, the lateral displacement is observed when depositing the droplet on the border of two stripes at large length ratios (over 0.1). On the other hand, the Cassie area fraction also has a significant effect on the wetting behaviors. When the droplet is driven by a body force with a 45° inclined angle to the stripes, the moving direction could be strictly in line with the force direction, deviating from the force direction, or totally in line with the stripes, depending on the length ratio.