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Droplet Impact on Microparticle Raft: Wettability, density and size govern splashing and microplastic ejection from rafts under raindrop impact
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Raindrop impact on floating microplastic rafts drives particle ejection into the atmosphere, with particle wettability being the key determinant — superhydrophobic particles form armored Worthington jets that fragment into airborne liquid marbles carrying microplastics. This mechanism quantifies how rainfall over ocean surfaces can aerosolize microplastics, contributing to their global atmospheric transport and deposition on land.
Raindrop impact on the ocean has been proposed as a mechanism for microplastic transfer from seawater to the atmosphere, yet the interfacial dynamics governing particle ejection from floating microplastics remain largely unexplored. We investigate droplet impact onto microparticle monolayers (rafts) spanning a wide range of sizes, contrasting densities, and wettabilities, under raindrop-relevant impact conditions. Particle rafts strongly influence splash dynamics, cavity collapse, and Worthington jet formation. Splash onset is controlled by particle-induced roughness and capillary adhesion: deeply immersed particles stabilise the spreading lamella, producing only microdroplets, whereas weakly immersed particles destabilise the rim, promoting fingering and splashing. Following impact, raft characteristics govern wave-swell dynamics, separating into elastic and rigid regimes. Superhydrophobic rafts enable particle ejection upon impact and form particle-armoured Worthington jets that fragment into liquid marbles, providing an efficient aerosolisation pathway. In contrast, less hydrophobic rafts show limited detachment upon impact but still support Worthington jet-mediated transport. Despite these differences, splash thresholds and Worthington jet heights collapse under a simple geometric-inertial-capillary scaling. These results show how particulate monolayers modify canonical droplet-impact and identify the interfacial conditions under which rainfall transfers microplastics from ocean to atmosphere, and inform related droplet-granular processes such as soil erosion, and impacts on sandy substrates.
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Droplet Impact on Microparticle Raft: Wettability, density and size govern splashing and microplastic ejection from rafts under raindrop impact
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Laboratory experiments revealed that raindrop impact on floating microplastic rafts drives particle ejection into the atmosphere, with particle wettability being the key determinant — superhydrophobic particles form armored Worthington jets that fragment into airborne liquid marbles carrying microplastics. This mechanism quantifies how rainfall over ocean surfaces can aerosolize microplastics, contributing to their global atmospheric transport and deposition on land.
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