Viscosity-dependent liquid slip at molecularly smooth hydrophobic surfaces.

Colloidal probe atomic force microscopy is used to study the slip behavior of 18 Newtonian liquids from two homologous series, the n-alkanes and n-alcohols, at molecularly smooth hydrophobic n-hexadecyltrichlorosilane coated surfaces. We find that the slip behavior is governed by the bulk viscosity eta of the liquid, specifically, the slip length b approximately etax with x approximately 0.33. Additionally, the slip length was found to be shear rate independent, validating the use of Vinogradova slip theory in this work.