3D-printed plasma-treated super-amphiphilic microgroove surface for outperformance of liquid vertical transportation

Abstract

The development of the super-lyophilic surface has gained tremendous attention due to its wide applications in the industrial and engineering fields. However, there are still challenges in preparing super-amphiphilic surfaces, especially microstructure surfaces. This study reports the progress of fabricating the super-amphiphilic microgroove surface (SAMS) for multi-purposes via physical and chemical modification. First, the microgroove structure is achieved via the fused deposition modeling 3D printing method with layer-by-layer (XZ direction) printing; then, the surface chemical composition is adjusted via a low-pressure argon plasma treatment. Besides, the surface roughness factor and the hydroxyl group content are controlled via the printed layer height/nozzle diameter ratio and plasma treatment time to optimize the capillary force between grooves to obtain the most appropriate SAMS. The achieved SAMS shows the versatile ability to wick common solvents of various polarities, including carbon tetrachloride, ethylene glycol, ethanol, 1-decanol, hexane, and water. The wicking dynamic of liquids on SAMS fits well with Washburn’s model at the initial stage, but it gradually moves out of the model. The simple and cost-efficient manufacturing process of SAMS can be scaled up for industrial applications like microfluidic and solvent recovery.