Carbonated Water Droplet on Dusty Hydrophobic Surface

Dust mitigation from the surfaces remains essential, particularly for the efficient operation of energy harnessing devices. Although various dust removal methods have been introduced, the self-cleaning method becomes favorable because of the cost effective cleaning process. Dust mitigation from the surfaces by water droplets, mimicking nature, is fruitful because it involves the low cost operations. Dust removal rate from surfaces by the rolling water droplet can be increased via creating bubbles inside the rolling droplets through which dust pinning on surfaces can be lowered and the droplet liquid infusion on dust surfaces can be enhanced. This study provides insight into bubble formation and dust mitigation in the carbonated and distilled water droplets located on the hydrophobic surfaces. Hence, bubble formations and dust distributions inside the carbonated water droplets are examined. The behavior of bubbles inside the carbonated water droplet and emanating from the hydrophobic surface is recorded and analyzed incorporating the high speed camera data. The influence of environmental dust particles on bubble formation is also assessed. Bubble velocity is formulated analytically and findings are compared with those of the experimental values. Findings reveal that the bubble formation inside the carbonated droplet fluid has a significant effect on the transition of dust particles from the hydrophobic surface towards the droplet fluid. The volume concentration of dust particles in the carbonated water droplet is almost 1.5 to 2.5 times larger than that of the distilled water droplet. The dissolution of alkaline and alkaline earth metal compounds in the carbonated droplet fluid acts like nucleation centers for bubble formation; hence, the number of bubbles formed on the dusty hydrophobic surface is greater than that of the clean hydrophobic surface. Some bubbles attaching at the dust particle surface contribute to dust mobility in the droplet fluid, which occurs particularly in the droplet bottom region. This enhances the velocity of the dust particles transiting from the dusty hydrophobic surface to the droplet fluid interior by almost 1.5 times in the early period.