Droplet Manipulation on Wettable Gradient Surfaces with Micro-/Nano-Hierarchical Structure

Hou, Yong; Feng, Shile; Dai, Liming; Zheng, Yong

doi:10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b01544

Cited by 52 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…In the superhydrophilic triangle area, interfacial energy increases with the increase of superhydrophilic area, providing the water droplets with upward driving force. 2) Surfaces with anisotropic wettability . Liquid droplet had been reported to be able to move against the gravity on such slope surfaces with tilted Janus pillar arrays, because the tilted micropillars endowed the surface with a directional wettability to propel the liquid transport (Figure g,h).…”

Section: Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Micro‐/Nanostructured Interface for Liquid Manipulation and Its Applications

Duan

Zheng

Zhao

et al. 2019

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Understanding the relationship between liquid manipulation and micro‐/nanostructured interfaces has gained much attention due to the wide potential applications in many fields, such as chemical and biomedical assays, environmental protection, industry, and even daily life. Much work has been done to construct various materials with interfacial liquid manipulation abilities, leading to a range of interesting applications. Herein, different fabrication methods from the top‐down approach to the bottom‐up approach and subsequent surface modifications of micro‐/nanostructured interfaces are first introduced. Then, interactions between the surface and liquid, including liquid wetting, liquid transportation, and a number of corresponding models, together with the definition of hydrophilic/hydrophobic, oleophilic/olephobic, the definition and mechanism of superwetting, including superhydrophobicity, superhydrophilicity, and superoleophobicity, are presented. The micro‐/nanostructured interface, with major applications in self‐cleaning, antifogging, anti‐icing, anticorrosion, drag‐reduction, oil–water separation, water collection, droplet (micro)array, and surface‐directed liquid transport, is summarized, and the mechanisms underlying each application are discussed. Finally, the remaining challenges and future perspectives in this area are included.

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Section: Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Micro‐/Nanostructured Interface for Liquid Manipulation and Its Applications

Duan

Zheng

Zhao

et al. 2019

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“…The most challenging task is to realize effective unidirectional droplet motion. Generally, the directed movements of droplet are induced by unbalanced interfacial tension via introducing a gradient force through external stimuli, such as chemical, [ 13 ] thermal, [ 14 ] topographic gradients, [ 15 ] electric field, [ 16 ] or their combinations. [ 17 ] Most of them rely on conducting the directed motion of nanodroplets under specific conditions or hydrophobic environments, such as observing slipping motion of water droplets on superhydrophobic surfaces, [ 18 ] which limits their practical applications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Generation of Nanodroplet Reactors and Their Applications in In Situ Controllable Synthesis and Transportation of Ag Nanoparticles

2021

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Nanodroplets have been paid great attention as they are crucial for a wide range of physical, chemical, and biological applications. In this paper, monodispersed nanodroplets are prepared and their directed motions are realized through conducting the formation of nonuniform structures via altering the ionic distribution within; all these dynamics have been observed by using in situ transmission electron microscopy liquid cell technology. It has been found that their transformation from random motion to directed motion is reversible. Moreover, combining multiple directed motions enables long‐distance travel with directed motion taking up 95% of the total time. The results here also prove that aqueous nanodroplets can slide directionally on the hydrophilic surface like droplets sliding on hydrophobic surface. Furthermore, the authors successfully achieve the unidirectional transportation of in situ prepared Ag nanoparticles by using the nanodroplets as nanoreactor, carrier, and transporter. The size and number of as‐prepared Ag nanoparticles can be quantitatively controlled. In summary, this research provides a new strategy for real‐time generation and precise manipulation of aqueous nanodroplets. Together with the quantitatively controllable in situ synthesis of Ag nanoparticles within the nanodroplets, this work can prove their promising applications in many fields.

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“…TC is a necessary condition for the vanishing of the first variation of a functional in the variational problems [19][20]. The presented paper demonstrates that the same variational method is applicable for the analysis of the CAH on the gradient surfaces, studied extensively in the past decade in a view of their biomedical and micro-fluidics applications [21][22][23][24][25][26]. There exist a variety of methods enabling manufacturing of gradient surfaces, one of which is the varying of the topography of the surface [23,24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Wetting of flat gradient surfaces

Bormashenko

2018

Journal of Colloid and Interface Science

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Gradient, chemically modified, flat surfaces enable directed transport of droplets. Calculation of apparent contact angles inherent for gradient surfaces is challenging even for atomically flat ones. Wetting of gradient, flat solid surfaces is treated within the variational approach, under which the contact line is free to move along the substrate. Transversality conditions of the variational problem give rise to the generalized Young equation valid for gradient solid surfaces. The apparent (equilibrium) contact angle of a droplet, placed on a gradient surface depends on the radius of the contact line and the values of derivatives of interfacial tensions. The linear approximation of the problem is considered. It is demonstrated that the contact angle hysteresis is inevitable on gradient surfaces. Electrowetting of gradient surfaces is discussed.

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Droplet Manipulation on Wettable Gradient Surfaces with Micro-/Nano-Hierarchical Structure

Cited by 52 publications

References 21 publications

Micro‐/Nanostructured Interface for Liquid Manipulation and Its Applications

Micro‐/Nanostructured Interface for Liquid Manipulation and Its Applications

Generation of Nanodroplet Reactors and Their Applications in In Situ Controllable Synthesis and Transportation of Ag Nanoparticles

Wetting of flat gradient surfaces

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