Thermocapillary motion of a liquid drop on a horizontal solid surface.

The motion of drops of decane on horizontal poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)-coated glass surfaces resulting from a temperature gradient on the surface is studied experimentally, and a theoretical description of the thermocapillary motion of spherical-cap drops on a horizontal solid surface obtained using the lubrication approximation also is presented. The drop size and the applied temperature gradient are varied in the experiments, and the measured velocities of the drops are compared with predictions from the model. The scalings of the velocity with drop size and with the applied temperature gradient are predicted correctly by the theoretical model, even though the actual velocities are smaller than those predicted. The influence of contact angle hysteresis, which leads to a critical drop size below which drops do not move, is found to be minimal. Unlike in previous studies (Chen, J. Z.; Troian, S. M.; Darhuber, A. A.; Wagner, S. J. Appl. Phys. 2005, 97, 014906; Brzoska, J. B.; Brochard-Wyart, F.; Rondelez, F. Langmuir 1993, 9, 2220), this small critical drop size appears to be independent of the applied temperature gradient. Results also are presented on the deformation of the contact lines of the moving drops in the form of an aspect ratio, and correlated with the temperature difference across the footprints of the drops and the capillary number.