Liquid-Vapor Phase-Change Heat Transfer on Functionalized Nanowired Surfaces and Beyond

Abstract

Liquid-vapor phase-change processes have been widely exploited in industrial applications including power generation, water processing and harvesting, cooling/refrigeration and environmental control, and thermal management. Enhancing liquid-vapor phase-change heat transfer is of practical interest. Recent advances in micro/nano-fabrication and characterization techniques have not only enabled exciting heat transfer enhancements but also furthered the fundamental understanding of the liquid-vapor phase-change processes. Nanowires can be synthesized with precise control for producing diverse and desired surface morphology with tunable wettability. This review presents an overview of liquid-vapor phase-change heat transfer enhancement on functionalized nanowired surfaces, as well as other promising strategies and surfaces. In this review, we briefly summarize the fabrication techniques for functionalized nanowired surfaces, discuss the underlying mechanisms for boiling and condensation enhancement, and introduce some important works to illustrate the power of design for functionality. We conclude this review by providing the perspectives for future research directions.

Temperature Effect on Capillary Flow Dynamics in 1D Array of Open Nanotextured Microchannels Produced by Femtosecond Laser on Silicon

“…Despite many researches on evaporation processes of a liquid on a hot wicking surface [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33], the spreading dynamics of a liquid in a heated wicking surface structure under conditions of evaporation remains a poorly studied issue [34][35][36][37][38]. Here, we investigate the capillary flow dynamics in an open capillary surface structure at temperatures between 23 and 80 • C. Previous studies show that the capillary flow velocity has its maximum in the beginning the liquid spreading [39].…”

Heterogeneous Wettability Surfaces: Principle, Construction, and Applications

“…Heterogeneous wettability refers either to incorporation of more hydrophilic regions on a less hydrophilic surface (or vice versa), with the desired arrangement and orientation, which is termed as “patterned wettability,” or to gradually changing wettability on the surface, which is termed as “gradient wettability.” The rational design of heterogeneous wettability endows a substrate with distinct, or even opposite, properties on different regions, such as the liquid adhesion, [ 15 ] the electrical conductivity, [ 16 ] the nucleate energy barrier, [ 17,18 ] and the cell adhesion, [ 19,20 ] which are significant in various processes such as sample analysis, material distribution, object alignment, [ 21,22 ] biological screening, suppressing frosting, and anti‐icing. [ 23,24 ] In addition, heterogeneous wettability engenders novel functions and unique properties that are hardly assessable on other surfaces, such as the scalable fabrication of single crystal arrays [ 25 ] and optimization of the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of photovoltaic perovskite solar cells.…”

Enhancing Condensation Heat Transfer on Three-Dimensional Hybrid Surfaces

“…1,2 Condensation is also an essential process in many industrial applications, from large-scale systems such as power plants and water desalination plants to small-scale systems such as micro-vapor chambers. [3][4][5][6] In addition, condensation plays an important role in water harvesting, [7][8][9] solar steam generation, 10 and energy harvesting. 11 Thus, enhancing condensation efficiency promises considerable savings in energy, capital, and operational costs in many industrial fields.…”