Water advancing and receding process as a liquid–vapor interface geometrical question

Existing wetting theories have difficulty accurately describing advancing/receding processes on micro-structured surfaces. A strategy is proposed to solve this problem by recognizing it as a liquid–vapor interface geometrical question. The wetting chip method is proposed to realize the microscopic observation of liquid–vapor interface variations. A wetting model based on the liquid–vapor interface shape (LVIS model) is established to describe the analytical relationships between the apparent contact angles, liquid–vapor interface radius, substrate geometry, and chemical nature of liquid. The LVIS model is divided into four typical time points and three transition stages, and its predictions agree with the experimental measurements. In contrast to traditional theories, the apparent contact angles in a quasi-equilibrium state should be separated into advancing and receding processes, and in this state, apparent contact angles vary with changes in the parameters of micro-pillar width and spacing. This strategy has the potential to accurately describe the wetting process on micro-structure surfaces.