Wetting of soap bubbles on hydrophilic, hydrophobic, and superhydrophobic surfaces

Wetting of sessile bubbles on various wetting surfaces (solid and liquid) has been studied. A model is presented for the apparent contact angle of a sessile bubble based on a modified Young's equation––the experimental results agree with the model. Wetting a hydrophilic surface results in a bubble contact angle of 90° whereas using a superhydrophobic surface one observes 134°. For hydrophilic surfaces, the bubble angle diminishes with bubble radius whereas on a superhydrophobic surface, the bubble angle increases. The size of the plateau borders governs the bubble contact angle, depending on the wetting of the surface.