Diffusion-controlled evaporation of sodium dodecyl sulfate solution drops placed on a hydrophobic substrate

In this work, the effect of SDS anionic surfactant on the diffusion-controlled evaporation rate of aqueous solution drops placed on TEFLON-FEP substrate was investigated with 11 different SDS concentrations. Drop evaporation was monitored in a closed chamber having a constant RH of 54-57% by a video camera. The initial contact angle, theta(i) decreased from 104 +/- 2 degrees down to 68 +/- 1 degrees due to the adsorption of SDS both at the water-air and the solid-water interfaces. The adsorption of SDS on the solid surface was found to be 76% of that of its adsorption at the water-air interface by applying Lucassen-Reynders approach. An equation was developed for the comparison of the evaporation rates of drops having different theta(i) on the same substrate. It was found that the addition of SDS did not alter the drop evaporation rate considerably for the first 1200 s for all the SDS concentrations. The main difference was found to be the change of the mode of drop evaporation by varying the SDS concentration. The constant theta mode was operative up to 80 mM SDS concentration, whereas constant contact area mode was operative after 200 mM SDS concentrations due to rapid drop pining on the substrate. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.