Direct Experimental Evidence of Slip in Hexadecane: Solid Interfaces

The boundary condition for the flow velocity of a Newtonian fluid near a solid wall has been probed experimentally with a novel setup using total internal reflection–fluorescence recovery after photobleaching leading to a resolution from the wall of the order of 80 nm. For hexadecane flowing on a hydrocarbon/lyophobic smooth surface, we give what we think to be the first direct experimental evidence of noticeable slip at the wall. We show that the surface roughness and the strength of the fluid-surface interactions both act on wall slip, in antagonist ways.