Predicting the lifetimes of evaporating droplets in ordered arrays

In many industrial processes, sessile droplets are well separated in an ordered array and evaporate to form various patterns. For an evaporating droplet in arrays, the presence of surrounding droplets causes a shielding effect that, in turn, leads to a decrease in the evaporation rate compared to the same droplet in isolation. Here, we demonstrate that, theoretically and experimentally, the shielding effect results in a significant increase in the lifetime of an evaporating droplet. Based on a recent theory, we determine the lifetimes of evaporating droplets in the ordered array. The theoretical prediction shows excellent agreement with our experimental data and even performs well outside its range of validity. These findings strengthen our fundamental understanding of interactions between evaporating droplets in arrays and provide new strategies for controlling the droplet evaporation. Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.