Line Tension and Drop Size Dependence of Contact Angle at the Nanoscale

Despite considerable research efforts, the influence of contact line tension during wetting at the nanoscale and its experimental determination remain challenging tasks. So far, molecular dynamics simulations and atomic force microscope measurements have contributed to the understanding of these phenomena. However, a direct measurement of the size dependence of the contact angle and the magnitude of the apparent line tension has not been realized so far. Here, we show that the contact angle is indeed dependent on the drop size for small drop diameters and determine the magnitude of the apparent line tension via liquid-metal based measurements of advancing and receding contact angle inside a scanning electron microscope. For this purpose, a robotic setup inside an electron microscope chamber and oxide-free Galinstan droplets—produced via an electromigration-based and focused ion beam irradiation-assisted process—are employed. Using the first-order correction of Young’s equation, we find an apparent line tension value of 4.02 × 10(−7) J/m for Galinstan© on stainless steel.