Stability of a water droplet on micropillared hydrophobic surfaces

Three-Dimensional Soft Material Micropatterning via Grayscale Photolithography for Improved Hydrophobicity of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)

In this present work, we aim to improve the hydrophobicity of a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) surface. Various heights of 3D PDMS micropillars were fabricated via grayscale photolithography, and improved wettability was investigated. Two approaches of PDMS replication were demonstrated, both using a single master mold to obtain the micropillar arrays. The different heights of fabricated PDMS micropillars were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and a surface profiler. The surface hydrophobicity was characterized by measuring the water contact angles. The fabrication of PDMS micropillar arrays was shown to be effective in modifying the contact angles of pure water droplets with the highest 157.3-degree water contact angle achieved by implementing a single mask grayscale lithography technique.

Ecological drivers of eggshell wettability in birds

Complex and at times extreme environments have pushed many bird species to develop unique eggshell surface properties to protect the embryo from external threats. Because microbes are usually transmitted into eggs by moisture, some species have evolved hydrophobic shell surfaces that resist water absorption, while also regulating heat loss and the exchange of gases. Here, we investigate the relationship between the wettability of eggshells from 441 bird species and their life-history traits. We measured the initial contact angle between sessile water droplets and the shell surface, and how far the droplet spread. Using phylogenetic comparative methods, we show that body mass, annual temperature and eggshell maculation primarily explained variance in water contact angle across eggshells. Species nesting in warm climates were more likely to exhibit highly hydrophobic eggshells than those nesting in cold climates, potentially to reduce microbial colonization. In non-passerines, immaculate eggs were found to have more hydrophobic surfaces than maculate eggshells. Droplets spread more quickly on eggshells incubated in open nests compared to domed nests, likely to decrease heat transfer from the egg. Here, we identify clear adaptations of eggshell wettability across a diverse range of nesting environments, driven by the need to retain heat and prevent microbial adhesion.

How to Achieve a Monostable Cassie State on a Micropillar-Arrayed Superhydrophobic Surface

Superhydrophobic surfaces with a monostable Cassie state possess numerous interesting applications in many fields, such as microfluidics, oil-water separation, drag reduction, self-cleaning, heat dissipation, and so on. How to guarantee a monostable Cassie state of a superhydrophobic surface is still an interesting problem. In this paper, considering the influence of external interferences that may induce the possible wettability transition, the whole wetting process of a droplet on a trapezoidal micropillar-arrayed superhydrophobic surface is divided into six possible stages. Both the Gibbs-free energy in each stage and the energy barrier between adjacent stages are obtained and analyzed theoretically. It is interesting to find that the finally stable wettability of a trapezoidal micropillar-arrayed superhydrophobic surface significantly depends on the apparent contact angle of the lateral surface of a single micropillar, which can be divided into three regions from 0 to 180°, corresponding to the Wenzel state, metastable Cassie state, and monostable Cassie state. Furthermore, the size of each region is explicitly related to and can be well-tuned by the geometry of microstructures. Such a wettability classification is well verified by a number of existing experimental results and our numerical simulations. As a relatively general case, such a trapezoidal micropillar-arrayed superhydrophobic surface can also be conveniently degenerated to the triangular or rectangular micropillar-arrayed surface. All the results should be useful for the precise design of functional surfaces of different wettabilities.

Wetting Dynamics of a Water Droplet on Micropillar Surfaces with Radially Varying Pitches

The wetting dynamics of a sessile droplet on square micropillar substrates with radially varying pitches, prepared on silicon wafers using a photolithography technique, is investigated experimentally. Two configurations are considered, namely, substrates with radially increasing pitch and radially decreasing pitch. The droplet initially placed at the center experiences a wettability gradient because of the variation in pitch of the micropillar substrate leading to complex wetting dynamics. We observed that the droplet remains in the Cassie-Baxter state in the case of a radially increasing pitch and exhibits a higher contact angle than that on a smooth surface during its spreading stage. In contrast, the droplet experiences the Wenzel condition in the case of a radially decreasing pitch and assumes a lower contact angle relative to that observed on a smooth surface. The wetted diameter of the droplet in the radially decreasing pitch configuration is found to be smaller than that observed in the radially increasing pitch configuration. Our study also reveals that increasing the size of the pillars increases the wetted diameter of the droplet in both configurations. Theoretical models developed using the Cassie-Baxter and Wenzel states for the radially increasing and radially decreasing pitches satisfactorily predict the experimental behaviors.

Intermediate wetting state at nano/microstructured surfaces

A general partial wetting model to describe an intermediate wetting state is proposed in this study to explain the deviations between the experimental results and classical theoretical wetting models for hydrophobic surfaces. We derived a theoretical partial wetting model for the static intermediate wetting state based on the thermodynamic energy minimization method. The contact angle based on the partial wetting model is a function of structural parameters and effective wetting ratio f, which agrees with the classical Wenzel and Cassie-Baxter models at f = 1 and 0, respectively. Si samples including porous surfaces, patterned surfaces and hierarchical nano/microstructured surfaces were prepared experimentally, having the same chemical composition but different physical morphology. We found that the experimental water contact angles deviate significantly from the classical Wenzel and Cassie-Baxter models but show good agreement with the proposed partial wetting model.

Effective Wetting Area Based on Electrochemical Impedance Analysis: Hydrophilic Structured Surface

Wettability on nano/microstructured surfaces is gaining remarkable interest for a wide range of applications; however, little is known about the effective wetting area of the solid-liquid interface. In this study, the effect of wettability on electrochemical impedance was experimentally investigated to obtain a better understanding of the effective wetting area. We demonstrate that the water contact angle decreases significantly at hydrophilic surfaces with denser nano/microstructures. Based on the analysis of equivalent electrical circuits, we found that the electrochemical impedance decreases with reducing the water contact angle, showing a dependence on the effective wetting area, i.e., the real solid-liquid contact area. Also, the charge transfer resistance at low frequency was found to be the dominant parameter to estimate the effective wetting area at the solid-liquid interface.

Wetting on Micropatterned Surfaces: Partial Penetration in the Cassie State and Wenzel Deviation Theoretically Explained

A liquid droplet on a micropatterned substrate equalizes into either the Cassie-Baxter (also called Cassie for short) or the Wenzel state. This paper investigates the wetting phenomena on ideal micropatterned surfaces consisting of straight micropillars at different pillar dimensions and spacings (the word "ideal" refers to being chemically homogeneous and free of submicron-scale roughness all over the micropatterned surface). Two modeling approaches are used: (1) a thermodynamic approach analyzing the Gibbs energy of the droplet-solid-gas system and (2) a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach studying the three-dimensional dynamic wetting process to validate the results of the first approach. The thermodynamic approach incorporates three creative submodels proposed in this paper: (i) a sagging model explaining the pillar edge effect, (ii) a touchdown model transitioning the droplet's partial penetrating condition toward its full penetrating condition, i.e., the Wenzel state, and (iii) a liquid-volume model dynamically computing the liquid volume between the pillar valleys while in the partial penetrating condition or in the Wenzel state. The results of the thermodynamic approach reveal (1) a small energy barrier between the Cassie and Wenzel states, (2) no partial penetration and sagging of the liquid in the Cassie state on the ideal straight micropillared surface, and (3) that the apparent contact angle in the most stable Wenzel state can be 5° or more lower than the prediction of the Wenzel equation when the pillar height is equal or greater than 75 μm. To the best of our knowledge, this paper presents the theoretical explanation of this Wenzel deviation on micropatterned surfaces for the first time in the literature. Utilizing the state-of-the-art continuum model developed by the authors in previous studies, the CFD approach investigates the same wetting conditions and confirms the same findings.

Explaining Evaporation-Triggered Wetting Transition Using Local Force Balance Model and Contact Line-Fraction

Understanding wettability and mechanisms of wetting transition are important for design and engineering of superhydrophobic surfaces. There have been numerous studies on the design and fabrication of superhydrophobic and omniphobic surfaces and on the wetting transition mechanisms triggered by liquid evaporation. However, there is a lack of a universal method to examine wetting transition on rough surfaces. Here, we introduce force zones across the droplet base and use a local force balance model to explain wetting transition on engineered nanoporous microstructures, utilizing a critical force per unit length (FPL) value. For the first time, we provide a universal scale using the concept of the critical FPL value which enables comparison of various superhydrophobic surfaces in terms of preventing wetting transition during liquid evaporation. In addition, we establish the concept of contact line-fraction theoretically and experimentally by relating it to area-fraction, which clarifies various arguments about the validity of the Cassie-Baxter equation. We use the contact line-fraction model to explain the droplet contact angles, liquid evaporation modes, and depinning mechanism during liquid evaporation. Finally, we develop a model relating a droplet curvature to conventional beam deflection, providing a framework for engineering pressure stable superhydrophobic surfaces.

Effect of Structure Hierarchy for Superhydrophobic Polymer Surfaces Studied by Droplet Evaporation

Super-hydrophobic natural surfaces usually have multiple levels of structure hierarchy. Here, we report on the effect of surface structure hierarchy for droplet evaporation. The two-level hierarchical structures studied comprise micro-pillars superimposed with nanograss. The surface design is fully scalable as structures used in this study are replicated in polypropylene by a fast roll-to-roll extrusion coating method, which allows effective thermoforming of the surface structures on flexible substrates. As one of the main results, we show that the hierarchical structures can withstand pinning of sessile droplets and remain super-hydrophobic for a longer time than their non-hierarchical counterparts. The effect is documented by recording the water contact angles of sessile droplets during their evaporation from the surfaces. The surface morphology is mapped by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and used together with the theory of Miwa et al. to estimate the degree of water impregnation into the surface structures. Finally, the different behavior during the droplet evaporation is discussed in the light of the obtained water impregnation levels.

Universal wetting transition of an evaporating water droplet on hydrophobic micro- and nano-structures

Water-repellent, rough surfaces have a remarkable and beneficial wetting property: when a water droplet comes in contact with a small fraction of the solid, both liquid-solid adhesion and hydrodynamic drag are reduced. As a prominent example from nature, the lotus leaf-comprised of a wax-like material with micro- and nano-scaled roughness-has recently inspired numerous syntheses of superhydrophobic substrates. Due to the diverse applications of superhydrophobicity, much research has been devoted to the fabrication and investigations of hydrophobic micro-structures using established micro-fabrication techniques. However, wetting transitions remain relatively little explored. During evaporation, a water droplet undergoes a wetting transition from a (low-frictional) partial to (adhesive) complete contact with the solid, destroying the superhydrophobicity and the self-cleaning properties of the slippery surface. Here, we experimentally examine the wetting transition of a drying droplet on hydrophobic nano-structures, a previously unexplored regime. In addition, using a theoretical analysis we found a universal criterion of this wetting transition that is characterized by a critical contact angle. Different from previous results showing different critical droplet sizes, our results show a universal, geometrically-dependent, critical contact angle, which agrees well with various data for both hydrophobic micro- and nano-structures.