Modelling spontaneous droplet transport in deformable divergent channels

Spontaneous droplet movement has gained increased interest in many applications, including microfluidics and microfabrication. This study focuses on the numerical investigation of driving mechanisms of spontaneous droplet motion. The numerical model using the phasefield method was validated by available experimental data. In this study, a heterogeneous wettability condition is implemented to reproduce contact angle hysteresis for the accurate prediction of spontaneous droplet dynamics. Through analysing the capillary pressure within the droplet, the driving mechanism is identified as being governed by the pressure difference between the two interfaces which depends on channel configuration, wettability, and contact angle hysteresis. The impact of channel deformability was further studied, revealing that channel deformability leads to significant changes in velocity or even reversed droplet movement direction. This study provides a novel numerical framework for controllable spontaneous droplet movement in flexible channels. Document Type: Original article Cited as: Chen, D., Zhong, H., Wang, Z., Suo, S., Wei, D., Gan, Y. Modelling spontaneous droplet transport in deformable divergent channels. Capillarity, 2025, 15(1): 4-11. https://doi.org/10.46690/capi.2025.04.02