Selective control of wetting on various substrates

Abstract

Selective control of wetting is highly demanded for a broad window of applications. To selectively control wetting a surface should be locally modified by structuring surfaces or modulating surface chemistry. However, the local modifications are still challenging due to their complex and expensive processes. In this report we demonstrate the development of a facile approach for selective control of wetting on various substrates. Taking superhydrophobic polypropylene particles and hydrophilic silica nanoparticles, we here show that the locally controlled wetting can be achieved by coating the particles on a wide range of substrates including metal and paper and be applied to microfluidic channels. Furthermore, we represent that the coating method can be applied to any surfaces regardless of compositions and geometries.