Abstract
In diverse processes, such as fertilization, insecticides, and cooling, liquid delivery is compromised by the super-repellency of receiving surfaces, including super-hydro-/omni-phobic and superheated types, a consequence of intercalated air pockets or vapor cushions that promote droplet rebounds as floating mass-spring systems. By simply overlaying impacting droplets with a tiny amount of lubricant (less than 0.1 vol% of the droplet), their interfacial properties are modified in such a way that damper-roller support is attached to the mass-spring system. The overlayers suppress the out-of-plane rebounds by slowing the departing droplets through viscous dissipation and sustain the droplets’ in-plane mobility through self-lubrication, a preferential state for scenarios such as shedding of liquid in spray cooling and repositioning of droplets in printing. The footprint of our method can be made to be minimal, circumventing surface contamination and toxification. Our method enables multifunctional and dynamic control of droplets that impact different types of nonwetting surfaces.
Highlights
In diverse processes, such as fertilization, insecticides, and cooling, liquid delivery is compromised by the super-repellency of receiving surfaces, including super-hydro-/omni-phobic and superheated types, a consequence of intercalated air pockets or vapor cushions that promote droplet rebounds as floating mass-spring systems
Enhancing liquid deposition is fundamental to agricultural sprays, insecticides, spray cooling, droplet-based printing, cosmetics and many other applications[1,2,3,4]
On nonwetting surfaces, including superhydrophobic[5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13], superomniphobic[14,15] and superheated surfaces[16,17], impacting droplets rebound in ~10 ms by retrieving their kinetic energy through shape restoration, behaving like a floating mass-spring system, which is a consequence of the intercalated air pockets or vapour cushions that allow liquid levitations[18,19,20,21,22,23]
Summary
In diverse processes, such as fertilization, insecticides, and cooling, liquid delivery is compromised by the super-repellency of receiving surfaces, including super-hydro-/omni-phobic and superheated types, a consequence of intercalated air pockets or vapor cushions that promote droplet rebounds as floating mass-spring systems. When the overlayer amount is sufficient to immerse the substrate asperities, the overlaid droplets can smoothly slide after deposition, as though they carry their own lubricant to turn the substrates in situ into slippery liquid-infused surfaces. Alternative methods such as counterspraying or sliding atop the overlayer liquid (Supplementary Fig. 1b, c) can coat droplets with high throughput.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
