The coalescence behavior of water and ethanol droplets: A molecular dynamic study

Abstract

The droplet coalescence phenomenon extensively exists in the industrial production and application, as well as in nature, which is of great research significance. This paper adopted the molecular dynamics (MDs) simulation method to investigate the behavioral characteristics of water/water, ethanol/ethanol and water/ethanol nanodroplets coalescence. The results suggested that, in water and ethanol nanodroplet coalescence process within the water/ethanol system, ethanol was always wrapped on the outer layer of water droplets. The droplet shrinkage in the water/water system was greater than those in the other two systems; meanwhile, that in the water/ethanol system rapidly increased after the contact of droplets, and subsequently surpassed that in the ethanol/ethanol system.