Moving mechanisms of the three-phase contact line in a water–decane–silica system

The movement of the three-phase contact line with chain molecules in the liquid phase displays more complex mechanisms compared to those in the usual liquid–liquid–solid systems and even to the gas–liquid–solid systems controlled by the traditional single-molecule adsorption–desorption mechanisms. By introducing decane molecules with chain structures, we demonstrate from molecular dynamics insights that the moving mechanism of the contact line in a water–decane–silica system is totally different from traditional mechanisms. Three different wettability-related moving mechanisms including “Roll up”, “Piston” and “Shear” are revealed corresponding to the hydrophilic, intermediate and hydrophobic three-phase wettability, respectively. In the “Roll up” mechanism, the decane molecules are rolled up by the competitively adsorbed water molecules and then move forward under the driving force; when the “Piston” mechanism happens, the decane molecules are pushed by the piston-like water phase owing to the comparable adsorption interactions of the two liquids on the solid surface; in the “Shear” mechanism, the contact line is hard to drive due to the stronger decane–silica interactions but the decane molecules far away from the solid surface will move forward. Besides, the time-averaged velocity of the moving contact line is greatly related to the moving mechanisms. For the “Roll up” mechanism, the contact line velocity increases first and then reaches a steady value; for the “Piston” mechanism, the contact line velocity has a maximum value at the start-up stage and then decreases to a stable value; for the “Shear” mechanism, the contact line velocity fluctuates around zero due to the thermal fluctuation of the molecules. Additionally, the mean distance from Molecular Kinetics Theory increases with decreasing hydrophilicity and the displacement frequency in “Roll up” mechanism is 2 orders of magnitude higher than that in the “Piston” mechanism, further demonstrating the different moving mechanisms from a quantitative point of view.