Drop trampoline

Rigid superhydrophobic materials have the ability to repel millimetric water drops, in typically 10 ms. Yet, most natural water-repellent materials can be deformed by impacting drops. To test the effect of deformability, we perform impacts of non-wetting drops onto thin (∼10 μm), circular PDMS membranes. The bouncing mechanism is markedly modified compared to that on a rigid material: the liquid leaves the substrate as it is kicked upwards by the membrane. We show that the rebound is controlled by an interplay between the dynamics of the drop and that of the soft substrate, so that we can continuously vary the contact time by playing on the membranes characteristics and reduce it up to 70%.