Anisotropic wetting on tunable micro-wrinkled surfaces

A lithography-free pathway for chemical microstructuring of macromolecules from aqueous solution based on wrinkling

We report on a novel lithography-free method for obtaining chemical submicron patterns of macromolecules on flat substrates. The approach is an advancement of the well-known microcontact printing scheme: While for classical microcontact printing lithographically produced masters are needed, we show that controlled wrinkling can serve as an alternative pathway to producing such masters. These can even show submicron periodicities. We expect upscaling to larger areas to be considerably simpler than that for existing techniques, as wrinkling results in a macroscopic deformation process that is not limited in terms of substrate size. Using this approach, we demonstrate successful printing of aqueous solutions of polyelectrolytes and proteins. We study the effectiveness of the stamping process and its limits in terms of periodicities and heights of the stamps' topographical features. We find that critical wavelengths are well below 355 nm and critical amplitudes are below 40 nm and clarify the failure mechanism in this regime. This will permit further optimization of the approach in the future.

Modifying the anti-wetting property of butterfly wings and water strider legs by atomic layer deposition coating: surface materials versus geometry

Although butterfly wings and water strider legs have an anti-wetting property, their working conditions are quite different. Water striders, for example, live in a wet environment and their legs need to support their weight and bear the high pressure during motion. In this work, we have focused on the importance of the surface geometrical structures in determining their performance. We have applied an atomic layer deposition technique to coat the surfaces of both butterfly wings and water strider legs with a uniform 30 nm thick hydrophilic Al(2)O(3) film. By keeping the surface material the same, we have studied the effect of different surface roughness/structure on their hydrophobic property. After the surface coating, the butterfly wings changed to become hydrophilic, while the water strider legs still remained super-hydrophobic. We suggest that the super-hydrophobic property of the water strider is due to the special shape of the long inclining spindly cone-shaped setae at the surface. The roughness in the surface can enhance the natural tendency to be hydrophobic or hydrophilic, while the roughness in the normal direction of the surface is favorable for forming a composite interface.

Strongly anisotropic wetting on one-dimensional nanopatterned surfaces

This communication reports strongly anisotropic wetting behavior on one-dimensional nanopatterned surfaces. Contact angles, degree of anisotropy, and droplet distortion are measured on micro- and nanopatterned surfaces fabricated with interference lithography. Both the degree of anisotropy and the droplet distortion are extremely high as compared with previous reports because of the well-defined nanostructural morphology. The surface is manipulated to tune with the wetting from hydrophobic to hydrophilic while retaining the structural wetting anisotropy with a simple silica nanoparticle overcoat. The wetting mechanisms are discussed. Potential applications in microfluidic devices and evaporation-induced pattern formation are demonstrated.

Anisotropic drop morphologies on corrugated surfaces

The spreading of liquid drops on surfaces corrugated with micrometer-scale parallel grooves is studied both experimentally and numerically. Because of the surface patterning, the typical final drop shape is no longer spherical. The elongation direction can be either parallel or perpendicular to the direction of the grooves, depending on the initial drop conditions. We interpret this result as a consequence of both the anisotropy of the contact line movement over the surface and the difference in the motion of the advancing and receding contact lines. Parallel to the grooves, we find little hysteresis due to the surface patterning and that the average contact angle approximately conforms to Wenzel's law as long as the drop radius is much larger than the typical length scale of the grooves. Perpendicular to the grooves, the contact line can be pinned at the edges of the ridges, leading to large contact angle hysteresis.

Drops on microstructured surfaces coated with hydrophilic polymers: Wenzel's model and beyond

In the experiments described in this paper, micromachined silicon post surfaces were coated with thin films of a polymer for which the contact angle on the smooth material was around 70 degrees . Drops wetted these surfaces in the Wenzel or "penetration" mode. We have determined the advancing and receding angles as a function of the roughness geometry and quantitatively compared our results to the contact angles predicted by Wenzel's model. We discuss reasons for discrepancies and propose a model for the motion of the meniscus where we take into account the precise shape of the liquid front during its movement through the post structure.