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- Title
Polygonal non-wetting droplets on microtextured surfaces.
- Authors
Lou, Jing; Shi, Songlin; Ma, Chen; Zhou, Xiaohuan; Huang, Dong; Zheng, Quanshui; Lv, Cunjing
- Abstract
Understanding the interactions between liquids and solids is important for many areas of science and technology. Microtextured surfaces have been extensively studied in microfluidics, DNA technologies, and micro-manufacturing. For these applications, the ability to precisely control the shape, size and location of the liquid via textured surfaces is of particular importance for the design of fluidic-based systems. However, this has been passively realized in the wetting state thanks to the pinning of the contact line, leaving the non-wetting counterpart challenging due to the low liquid affinity. In this work, confinement is imposed on droplets located on well-designed shapes and arrangements of microtextured surfaces. An active way to shape non-wetting water and liquid metal droplets into various polygons ranging from triangles, squares, rectangles, to hexagons is developed. The results suggest that energy barriers in different directions account for the movement of the contact lines and the formation of polygonal shapes. By characterizing the curvature of the liquid-vapour meniscus, the morphology of the droplet is correlated to its volume, thickness, and contact angle. The developed liquid-based patterning strategy under active regulation with low adhesion looks promising for low-cost micromanufacturing technology, DNA microarrays, and digital lab-on-a-chip. Exploring the interactions between liquids and solids is critical for improving control over fluidic systems. Here, authors develop an active way to tailor various polygonal shapes of non-wetting droplet on microtextured surfaces, resulting from the anisotropic energy barriers of the contact line.
- Subjects
DNA microarrays; LIQUID metals; ACTIVATION energy; CONTACT angle; HEXAGONS; MICROFABRICATION
- Publication
Nature Communications, 2022, Vol 13, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
2041-1723
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/s41467-022-30399-0