Factors influencing the contact angle value. The contact angle, as a characteristic of the properties of solid surfaces

Abstract

A survey of publications concerning the properties of solids in relation to wetting phenomena is presented. Factors influencing the contact angle value as well as problems of objective approach to research into wetting phenomena are discussed. Peculiarities of the direct and reverse processes during the formation of the solid—liquid—vapor three-phase contact and the inevitability of contact angle hysteresis for polar solids and liquids are analyzed. It is suggested that contact angle hysteresis is due to high energy of the interaction between the liquid and the solid and hence a long relaxation time of the three-phase contact system. Specific features of the response of a solid surface to all surface processes (“chemomechanics”) is discussed. Cleaning of solid surfaces as well as surface preparation for repeated measurements is considered. It is shown that good reproducibility of results is possible if conditions for sample preparation are met. The results of determination of the activation energy for wetting of glass surface with water are presented. The influence of the structure of solids (their hardness) on the contact angle values is demonstrated. Inevitability of the presence of different-type active sites characterized by different dissociation constants (pK_a) on the surface of solids is discussed. The pK_a values and content of these surface sites obtained from potentiometric titration and wetting data are estimated. The estimates thus obtained are in reasonable agreement with each other and can thus be used in practical applications. However, potentiometric titration is currently inappropriate for evaluating the content of individual surface sites as well as the surface charge.