Quantifying droplet–solid friction using an atomic force microscope

Controlling the wetting and spreading of microdroplets is key to technologies such as microfluidics, ink-jet printing, and surface coating. Contact angle goniometry is commonly used to characterize surface wetting by droplets, but the technique is ill-suited for high contact angles close to $180°$. Here, we attach a micrometric-sized droplet to an atomic force microscope cantilever to directly quantify droplet–solid friction on different surfaces (superhydrophobic and underwater superoleophobic) with sub-nanonewton force resolutions. We demonstrate the versatility of our approach by performing friction measurements using different liquids (water and oil droplets) and under different ambient environments (in air and underwater). Finally, we show that underwater superoleophobic surfaces can be qualitatively different from superhydrophobic surfaces: droplet–solid friction is highly sensitive to droplet speeds for the former but not for the latter surface.