Partial Wetting Research Articles

Kinetics of Spreading over Porous Substrates

The spreading of small liquid drops over thin and thick porous layers (dry or saturated with the same liquid) is discussed in the case of both complete wetting (silicone oils of different viscosities over nitrocellulose membranes and blood over a filter paper) and partial wetting (aqueous SDS (Sodium dodecyl sulfate) solutions of different concentrations and blood over partially wetted substrates). Filter paper and nitrocellulose membranes of different porosity and different average pore size were used as a model of thin porous layers, sponges, glass and metal filters were used as a model of thick porous substrates. Spreading of both Newtonian and non-Newtonian liquid are considered below. In the case of complete wetting, two spreading regimes were found (i) the fast spreading regime, when imbibition is not important and (ii) the second slow regime when imbibition dominates. As a result of these two competing processes, the radius of the drop goes through a maximum value over time. A system of two differential equations was derived in the case of complete wetting for both Newtonian and non-Newtonian liquids to describe the evolution with time of radii of both the drop base and the wetted region inside the porous layer. The deduced system of differential equations does not include any fitting parameter. Experiments were carried out by the spreading of silicone oil drops over various dry microfiltration membranes (permeable in both normal and tangential directions) and blood over dry filter paper. The time evolution of the radii of both the drop base and the wetted region inside the porous layer were monitored. All experimental data fell on two universal curves if appropriate scales are used with a plot of the dimensionless radii of the drop base and of the wetted region inside the porous layer on dimensionless time. The predicted theoretical relationships are two universal curves accounting quite satisfactorily for the experimental data. According to the theory prediction, (i) the dynamic contact angle dependence on the same dimensionless time as before should be a universal function and (ii) the dynamic contact angle should change rapidly over an initial short stage of spreading and should remain a constant value over the duration of the rest of the spreading process. The constancy of the contact angle on this stage has nothing to do with hysteresis of the contact angle: there is no hysteresis in the system under investigation in the case of complete wetting. These conclusions again are in good agreement with experimental observations in the case of complete wetting for both Newtonian and non-Newtonian liquids. Addition of surfactant to aqueous solutions, as expected, improve spreading over porous substrates and, in some cases, results in switching from partial to complete wetting. It was shown that for the spreading of surfactant solutions on thick porous substrates there is a minimum contact angle after which the droplet rapidly absorbs into the substrate. Unfortunately, a theory of spreading/imbibition over thick porous substrates is still to be developed. However, it was shown that the dimensionless time dependences of both contact angle and spreading radius of the droplet on thick porous material fall on to a universal curve in the case of complete wetting.

Direct Contact Membrane Distillation Applied to Colored Reactive or Disperse Dye Solutions

AbstractThe influence of dye class and chromogen groups of dyeing wastewaters composed by reactive or disperse dyes with different colors on direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) was investigated. The state‐of‐the‐art shows that disperse dyes and different dye colors are not studied in DCMD and the application of DCMD for dyeing wastewater treatment is limited to a few publications. High color rejection was obtained and water was recovered at the permeate side for feed solutions containing reactive or disperse dye. Influence of chromogen groups (colors) was not observed, whereas the class dye was decisive for the process performance. Reactive dyes showed higher mean permeate flux due to the repulsion between their anionic groups and the negative surface of the membrane. Partial wetting of larger pores allowed the passage of small disperse dye molecules, reducing color rejection.

Wetting of Polymer Brushes by Polymeric Nanodroplets.

End-anchoring polymers to a solid surface to form so-called polymer brushes is a versatile method to prepare robust functional coatings. We show, using molecular dynamics simulations, that these coatings display rich wetting behavior. Depending on the interaction between the brushes and the polymeric droplets as well as on the self-affinity of the brush, we can distinguish between three wetting states: mixing, complete wetting, and partial wetting. We find that transitions between these states are largely captured by enthalpic arguments, while deviations to these can be attributed to the negative excess interfacial entropy for the brush droplet system. Interestingly, we observe that the contact angle strongly increases when the softness of the brush is increased, which is opposite to the case of drops on soft elastomers. Hence, the Young to Neumann transition owing to softness is not universal but depends on the nature of the substrate.

Rotational diffusion of partially wetted colloids at fluid interfaces

HypothesisRotational Brownian diffusions of colloidal particles at a fluid interface play important roles in particle self-assembly and in surface microrheology. Recent experiments on translational Brownian motion of spherical particles at the air-water interface show a significant slowing down of the translational diffusion with respect to the hydrodynamic predictions (Boniello et al., 2015). For the rotational diffusions of partially wetted colloids, slowing down of the particle dynamics can be also expected. ExperimentsHere, the rotational dynamics of Janus colloids at the air-water interface have been experimentally investigated using optical microscopy. Bright field and fluorescent microscopies have been used to measure the in-plane and out-of-plane particle rotational diffusions exploiting the Janus geometry of the colloids we fabricated. FindingsOur results show a severe slowing down of the rotational diffusion Dr,⊥ connected to the contact line motion and wetting-dewetting dynamics occurring on particle regions located at opposite liquid wedges. A slowing down of the particle rotational diffusion about an axis parallel to the interfacial normal Dr,|| was also observed. Contact line fluctuations due to partial wetting dynamics lead to a rotational line friction that we have modelled in order to describe our results.

Promoted reversible wettability transition by plasmonic effects at Ag/TiO2 heterointerface

We explore in this paper the photoinduced wetting/dewetting behaviors of silver/rutile heterointerfaces and demonstrate that silver nanoparticles can greatly increase the ultraviolet induced wetting and infrared induced dewetting transition rates. The results are interpreted based on the examination of the defect structures of the rutile surface before and after ultraviolet irradiation. The density functional theory calculation with the inclusion of the on-site Coulomb interaction reveals that the formation energy of an oxygen vacancy on the silver/rutile (110) interface is lower than that on the blank rutile (110) surface. We also discover that plasmonic nanostructures enable the partial wetting transition of the rutile (110) surface by irradiation with visible light at 473 nm and 532 nm. This work opens up a feasible route to the development of high-performance multifunctional materials via plasmonic nanostructures and defect engineering.

Dye synthetic solution treatment by direct contact membrane distillation using commercial membranes

ABSTRACT The reuse of treated dyeing wastewater has become a viable option to minimizing water scarcity problems and environmental impacts in the textile industry. The potentiality of commercial flat sheet membranes of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and polypropylene (PP) in direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) for dye synthetic solution treatment has been explored in this work. DCMD is interesting for the textile industry since a recovery of heat by hot dyeing wastewater for thermal energy is possible. Moreover, DCMD enables water and dye reclamation with possible reuse in the textile process. The commercial availability of membranes may expedite the DCMD commercialization in the textile industry. Experiments were conducted in a laboratory-scale circulating unit with synthetic solutions containing reactive or disperse dye. High mean permeate flux up to 18.8 kg m−2 h−1 with complete colour rejection was obtained. The dyes tested in this study are not able to completely wet the membranes and the increase of the permeate flux when compared to distilled water is attributed to electrostatic interactions between the dyes and the membranes. Moreover, a partial wetting reduced vapour diffusion path and the permeate flux was increased. PP membrane showed higher performance due to higher porosity when compared to the PTFE membrane. In addition, an influence of dye class on permeability was observed. The results were promising when compared to other studies, which used commercial or lab-scale membranes.

Enhancement of Flow Boiling Heat Transfer Performance Using Single-Step Electrodeposited Cu–Al2O3 Nanocomposite Coating on Copper Substrate

The higher-thermal conductive Cu–Al2O3 nanoparticles are deposited on the copper surface by using single-step electrodeposition technique. The developed Cu–Al2O3 nanocomposite-coated surfaces attained excellent adhesiveness with copper substrate. Again, the surface morphology parameters like wettability, roughness, porosity, and porous layer thickness, as per the necessity in structured surfaces, can be easily managed by managing the electrodeposition parameters like potential difference, deposition time, current density, and electrolyte concentration. The surface morphology characterization is carried out with respect to the wettability, roughness, coating thickness, porosity, and average pore diameter. The flow boiling heat transfer experiments at different mass flow rates with deionized (DI) water are carried out in a minichannel of developed experimental setup. The Cu–Al2O3 coating offers lower thermal resistance due to its higher thermal conductivity and lower coating thickness. Again, the percentage enhancement in critical heat flux (CHF) and boiling heat transfer coefficient (BHTC) of the Cu–Al2O3-coated surfaces is decreased with the increase in mass flow rate, which is owing to the partial wetting of the pores at higher mass flow rate. The maximum augmentations in BHTC and CHF for the coated surfaces are achieved up to 84% and 86% as compared to the bare surface, respectively, which are due to the improvement in surface wettability and formation of huge number of cavities/pores on coated surfaces. Thus, the porous surface with minichannel is the potential candidate for the microelectronics cooling devices due to its compact size, lower heating surface temperature, higher CHF, and higher BHTC.

Molecular Dynamics Study of Adsorption of the Lennard-Jones Truncated and Shifted Fluid on Planar Walls

A comprehensive molecular dynamics study of gas phase and supercritical fluid adsorption on planar walls in dispersive systems is presented. All interactions in the system are described with the Lennard-Jones truncated and shifted (LJTS) potential with a cutoff radius of 2.5 fluid diameters. The adsorption strength is characterized by the solid–fluid interaction energy and the wall density. Both parameters are varied systematically. The present work extends a previous study in which wetting in the same systems was investigated. Therefore, the contact angles are known for all studied systems. They include cases with total wetting as well as cases with partial wetting. The temperature varies between the triple point and 3 times the critical temperature of the LJTS fluid. For the systems with partial wetting, the adsorption is studied not only up to the saturation pressure but also in the metastable region. For all systems, the surface excess is determined as a function of pressure and temperature. Furthermo...

Droplets Capped with an Elastic Film Can Be Round, Elliptical, or Nearly Square.

We present experiments that show that the partial wetting of droplets capped by taut elastic films is highly tunable. Adjusting the tension allows the contact angle and droplet morphology to be controlled. By exploiting these elastic boundaries, droplets can be made elliptical, with an adjustable aspect ratio, and can even be transformed into a nearly square shape. This system can be used to create tunable liquid lenses and, moreover, presents a unique approach to liquid patterning.

Evaporation and instability of an unbounded-axisymmetric liquid bridge between chemically similar and different substrates

HypothesisIn this manuscript we examine the stability of an evaporating-unbounded axisymmetric liquid bridge confined between parallel-planar similar or chemically different substrates using both theory and experiments. With a quasistatic assumption we use hydrostatics to estimate the minimum stable volume Vmin via the Young-Laplace equation for Bond numbers 0⩽Bo⩽1, and top/bottom wall contact angles 5°<θ<175° although the primary focus is on wetting and partial wetting fluids. Solving the Young-Laplace equation requires knowledge of appropriate capillary pressure values, which appear as a constant, and may not provide unique solution. To examine uniqueness of numerical solutions and volume minima determined from the Young-Laplace equation for unbounded-axisymmetric liquid bridges we analyzed capillary pressure for large and small liquid volume-asymptotic limits at zero Bond number. ExperimentsExperiments were performed to compare with the volume minima calculations for Bond numbers 0.04⩽Bo⩽0.65. Three substrates of varying surface energy were used, with purified water as the primary liquid. Volume estimates and contact angle data were extracted via image analysis and evaporation rates measured from this data are reported. FindingsVolume minima were in the range 0.1<Vmin<20 μl depending on Bond number. There was good agreement when comparing predicted volume minima and those determined from experiments for the range of parameters studied.

Penetration dynamics through nanometer-scale hydrophilic capillaries: Beyond Washburn’s equation and extended menisci

HypothesisRecently, the naoncapillary devices with the channel width about 2–3 water molecules have been fabricated. Water transport through these nanoslits showed unexpectedly fast flow, revealing the failure of Washburn’s equation. ExperimentsLiquid penetration into a nanocapillary made of two parallel walls is explored by many-body dissipative particle dynamics. Both partial wetting and total wetting walls are considered and the no-slip boundary condition is satisfied. FindingsThe wicking velocity generally obeys Washburn’s equation, but the dynamic contact angle (CA) has to be employed. The dynamic CA (θD) relies on the penetration rate and is always larger than the equilibrium CA. The breakdown of Washburn’s equation occurs under two conditions, (i) the channel width close to molecular size and (ii) the positive spreading coefficient is large enough. Both cases come about when the wicking velocity in a nanoslit exceeds the maximum value corresponding to cos(θD) = 1. The failure of Washburn’s equation is attributed to the invalidity of Young-Laplace equation associated with undefined meniscus. The extended meniscus will be developed as a wall of the nanoslit continues to extend outside the exit mouth. The shapes of extended menisci are discussed for both partial wetting and total wetting surfaces.

Thin wedge evaporation/condensation controlled by the vapor dynamics in the atmosphere.

Evaporation or condensation in the vicinity of the immobile (pinned) contact line in an atmosphere of some inert (noncondensable) gas is considered here in a partial wetting configuration. Such a problem is relevant to many situations, in particular to a drop or a liquid film drying in open air. The thermal effects are not important and the mass exchange rate is controlled by the vapor dynamics in the gas. By following previous works, we account for the weak coupling between the diffusion in the gas and flow in the liquid through the Kelvin effect. Such a problem is nonlocal because of the diffusion in the gas. For generality, we consider a geometry of a liquid wedge posed on a flat and homogeneous substrate surrounded by a gas phase with a diffusion boundary layer of uniform thickness [Formula: see text]. Similarly to the moving contact line problem, the phase change leads to the hydrodynamic contact line singularity. The asymptotic analysis of this problem is carried out for the liquid wedge of the length [Formula: see text]. Three asymptotic regions are identified: the microscopic one (in which the singularity is relaxed, in the present case with the Kelvin effect) and two intermediate regions. The Kelvin effect alone turns to be sufficient to relax the singularity. The scaling laws for the interface slope and mass evaporation/condensation flux in each region are discussed. It is found that the difference of the apparent contact angle (i.e., interface slope in the second intermediate region) and the equilibrium contact angle is inversely proportional to the square root of [Formula: see text] and square root of the microscopic length, whatever is the singularity relaxation mechanism.

Universality of active wetting transitions

Four on-lattice and six off-lattice models for active matter are studied numerically, showing that in contact with a wall, they display universal wetting transitions between three distinctive phases. The particles, which interact via exclusion volume only, move persistently and, depending on the model, change their direction either via tumble processes or rotational diffusion. When increasing the turning rate $\nu_T$, the systems transit from total wetting, to partial wetting and dewetted phases. In the first phase, a wetting film covers the wall, with increasing heights while decreasing $\nu_T$. The second phase is characterized by wetting droplets on the walls. And, finally, the walls dries with few particles in contact with it. These phases present two continuous non-equilibrium transitions. For the first transition, from partial to total wetting, the fraction of dry sites vanishes continuously when decreasing $\nu_T$, with a power law of exponent 1. And, for the second transition, an order parameter proportional to the excess mass in droplets decreases continuously with a power law of exponent 3 when approaching a critical value of $\nu_T$. The critical exponents are the same for all the models studied.

A droplet actuation technique for a lab-on-chip device using partial wetting surface without external force

In the digital microfluidic systems, the droplet actuation and control in a chip is an important requirement. Usually, to actuate any droplet operation, an external energy needs to be supplied. We have demonstrated the utilization of the freely available surface energy by the suitable design of partial wetting surfaces to actuate and perform various droplet operations like splitting, transportation and merging. This approach would help us to realize on-chip droplet operations without applying external force like pressure, electric field or magnetic field with required control. The partial wetting surface and interface are synthesized using a selective painting technique and basic operations such as impingement, spreading and transportation are demonstrated. These dynamic properties of the droplet are modelled and analyzed with a multiphase lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). The partial wetting study of droplet dynamics is demonstrated using chemical gradient and structural gradient. The modelling results show good agreement with the experimental study, thus LBM can be used as tool for analyzing such chip designs. Further a microfluidic chip is designed with partial wetting surfaces chemically and by the placement of micro-pillars and basic on-chip operations such as splitting, merging and transportation are illustrated using LBM.

Modeling of pore wetting in vacuum membrane distillation

In this work simulation results for the pore wetting of vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) are reported, considering heat and mass balance at liquid/vapor interface when steady state is achieved. Two cases were studied. In case 1, the system is in isothermal condition. In case 2, heat enters only from the pore inlet and is removed at the liquid/vapor interface as liquid vaporizes. The simulation has shown that the liquid/vapor boundary may remain inside the pore at the steady state condition, which means the partial pore wetting is possible. The significant temperature drop from the pore entrance to the liquid/vapor interface has also been predicted. It was found from case 2 simulation that VMD is possible in a wider range of pore radius, r, than the Laplace equation predicts. As well, the possibility of VMD for the contact angle (θ) below 90° was justified.

Mixed-Mesh Finite-Volume Model for Shallow Water Flow with Drying and Wetting

The Godunov-type finite-volume model is able to accurately simulate complex fluid flows without numerical oscillation. In particular, the mesh-based finite-volume model can capture the feature geometry with precision at the nodes of the grid, and thus has a benefit in flood modeling. However, the mesh-based model may cause partial drying and wetting, which are challenges to solve in the 2D numerical model. Begnudelli and Sanders (2006) proposed a triangular mesh-based volume/free surface relationship (VFR) for resolving partial drying and wetting, and Kim et al. (2014) extended the method to mixed mesh. In this study the accuracy and applicability of VFRs extended by Kim et al. (2014) were examined by applying three mesh types, namely triangular, quadrilateral and mixed mesh, with various resolutions. Model errors and run times were acceptable and VFRs applied in this study performed well regardless of mesh type and resolution. Keywords: Mixed Mesh, VFRs, Drying and Wetting, Dam-break, Mesh Type

Understanding Film-To-Stripe Transition of Conjugated Polymers Driven by Meniscus Instability.

Meniscus instability during meniscus-guided solution coating and printing of conjugated polymers has a significant impact on the deposit morphology and the charge-transport characteristics. The lack of quantitative investigation on meniscus-instability-induced morphology transition for conjugated polymers hindered the ability to precisely control conjugated polymer deposition for desired applications. Herein, we report a film-to-stripe morphology transition caused by stick-and-slip meniscus instability during solution coating seen in multiple donor-acceptor polymer systems. We observe the coexistence of film and stripe morphologies at the critical coating speed. Surprisingly, higher charge-carrier mobility is measured in transistors fabricated from stripes despite their same deposition condition as the films at the critical speed. To understand the origin of the morphology transition, we further construct a generalizable surface free energy model to validate the hypothesis that the morphology transition occurs to minimize the system surface free energy. As the system surface free energy varies during a stick-and-slip cycle, we focus on evaluating the maximum surface free energy at a given condition, which corresponds to the sticking state right before slipping. Indeed, we observe the increase of the maximum system surface free energy with theincrease in coating speed prior to film-to-stripe morphology transition andanabrupt drop in the maximum system surface free energy post-transition when the coating speed is further increased,whichisassociatedwith thereduced meniscus length during stripe deposition. Such an energetic change originates from the competition between pinning and depinning forces on a partial wetting substrate which underpins the film-to-stripe transition. This work establishes a quantitative approach for understanding meniscus-instability-induced morphology transition during solution coating. The mechanistic understanding may further facilitate the use of meniscus instability for lithography-free patterning or to suppress instability for highly homogeneous thin film deposition.

Cationic Hofmeister Series of Wettability Alteration in Mica-Water-Alkane Systems.

The specific interaction of ions with macromolecules and solid–liquid interfaces is of crucial importance to many processes in biochemistry, colloid science, and engineering, as first pointed out by Hofmeister in the context of (de)stabilization of protein solutions. Here, we use contact angle goniometry to demonstrate that the macroscopic contact angle of aqueous chloride salt solutions on mica immersed in ambient alkane increases from near-zero to values exceeding 10°, depending on the type and concentration of cations and pH. Our observations result in a series of increasing ability of cations to induce partial wetting in the order Na+, K+ < Li+ < Rb+ < Cs+ < Ca2+ < Mg2+ < Ba2+. Complementary atomic force microscopy measurements show that the transition to partial wetting is accompanied by cation adsorption to the mica–electrolyte interface, which leads to charge reversal in the case of divalent cations. In addition to electrostatics, hydration forces seem to play an important role, in particular for the monovalent cations.

An Oligoimide Particle as a Pickering Emulsion Stabilizer.

A pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA) and 4,4′-oxydianiline (ODA)-based oligoimide (PMDA-ODA) was synthesized by a one-step procedure using water as a solvent. The PMDA-ODA particles showed excellent partial wetting properties and were stably dispersed in both water and oil phases. A stable dispersion was not obtained with comparison PMDA-ODA particles that were synthesized by a conventional two-step method using an organic solvent. Both oil-in-water and water-in-oil Pickering emulsions were prepared using the oligoimide particles synthesized in water, and the size of the emulsion droplet was controlled based on the oligoimide particle concentration. The oligoimide particles were tested to prepare Pickering emulsions using various kinds of oils. The oil-in-water Pickering emulsions were successfully applied to prepare microcapsules of the emulsion droplets. Our new Pickering emulsion stabilizer has the advantages of easy synthesis, no need for surface modification, and the capability of stabilizing both oil-in-water and water-in-oil emulsions.

Wetting Fraction in a Tubular Reactor with Solid Foam Packing and Gas/Liquid Co-Current Downflow

The performance of fixed-bed reactors with structured catalysts depends heavily on the gas–liquid–solid contacting pattern. For a broad range of flow conditions, the liquid phase does not cover the solid surface of the packing homogeneously; this is known as partial wetting. The wetting fraction in solid foams was obtained using a modified electrochemical measurement method with adaption of the limiting-current technique in different pre-wetting scenarios. The external wetting fraction, which is defined as fraction of the external solid-foam area covered by the liquid phase to the total external solid-foam area, is directly linked to the overall rate of reaction through the overall liquid mass transfer rate. The wetting fraction decreased with an increase in foam density, a process which was related to decreasing the strut thickness, increasing foam surface area, and consequently, decreasing the wetted area. Additionally, the results indicate that a better distribution of liquid and an increased wetting fraction occurred when a spray nozzle distributor was applied. A new wetting correlation for solid foams is proposed to estimate the wetting fraction with consideration of foam morphology and flow regime.