Contact Angle Patterns on Low-Energy Surfaces

It is well-known that on a given low-energy solid surface, the contact angles of different organic liquids follow a regular pattern. The experimental evidence for this, and semi-empirical equations describing the pattern, are reviewed. Theoretical and computational efforts to explain the pattern are discussed, and a simplified analytical approach is presented. The main pattern of contact angles is seen to arise from two factors: a common combining rule for liquid-solid molecular interactions, and the reduced density of liquid molecules adjacent to a lower-energy solid surface. Irregular departures from the main pattern are due to chemical effects originating in molecular structure.