Modeling and Measurement on the Sliding Behavior of Microgrooved Surfaces

Abstract

The sliding behavior of anisotropic surfaces is a crucial property to their applications from fundamental research to practical fields. Herein, we propose a theoretical model for analyzing the sliding behavior based on the concept of adhesion energy. Surface Evolver simulation is conducted to determine the adhesion energy per unit area. The microgrooved surfaces are fabricated and characterized to validate the proposed theory. It is found that the apparent contact angle measured along the direction parallel to the strips increases with the increase of microgroove width, while the corresponding sliding angles exhibit an opposite trend. The adhesion energy per unit area has a constant value regardless of the droplet volume. The different sliding behaviors of anisotropic surfaces along the perpendicular and parallel directions are attributed to the difference in the corresponding adhesion energies per unit area. The proposed model is expected to be used for predicting the sliding behavior of anisotropic surfaces.

Biomimetic Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube/Polydimethylsiloxane Nanocomposites with Temperature-Controlled, Hydrophobic, and Icephobic Properties

“…The purpose of this process was to prevent extra energy from changing the actual wetting state of the droplets on the biomimetic nanocomposite surface by vibrational perturbations from the external environment. 35 More detailed SA, θ a , and θ r data are compiled in Supporting Information Table S1. Figure 4f shows the relationships of the SCAs and SAs of the four types of micropillar array biomimetic nanocomposite surfaces with varying micropillar heights from 20 to 50 μm.…”

“…The droplets produced by the syringe were slowly and carefully moved downward to the biomimetic nanocomposite surface. The purpose of this process was to prevent extra energy from changing the actual wetting state of the droplets on the biomimetic nanocomposite surface by vibrational perturbations from the external environment . More detailed SA, θ a , and θ r data are compiled in Supporting Information Table S1.…”

The validity of triple contact line theory from hydrophilic to superhydrophobic surfaces

“…The study of longitudinal and transverse CAs of a droplet on micro-grooved surfaces has gained immense attention to researchers due to its potential applications. Some of the areas of applications are movement dynamics [31], transporting droplets through the anisotropic surface [32], spreading dynamics of the ellipsoidal droplet [33], anisotropic flow behavior on corrugated semiconductor surface [34], sliding dynamics of the droplets on microgrooves [35], icephobicity [36], the controllable valve in microfluidics [30], photothermal control of micro fluids [37], directional anchoring of patterned super-amphiphobic surfaces [38], droplet bouncing hydrodynamics [39], mechanoresponsive tuning [40], harvesting of dew droplets [41,42], etc.…”