Evaporation Dynamics on a Lithium Niobate Surface.

Manipulating the water evaporation dynamics is a prerequisite in various modern-day applications like DNA stretching, rapid disease diagnostics, and inkjet printing. One method to affect the evaporation dynamics of droplets is to externally apply electric fields. However, surfaces that bear an intrinsic surface charge have not yet been investigated with respect to their evaporation behavior. In this study, we investigate water droplet evaporation on lithium niobate (LN), a ferroelectric material with a very high spontaneous polarization of 0.7 C / m 2 ${C/{m}^{2}}$ . Our results show that a droplet deposited on an LN surface evaporates in three stages: (i) constant contact radius (ii) mixed phase (iii) stick-slip, which is likely originating from the intrinsic surface charge. The influence of the polarization direction of the LN surface as well as the relative humidity of the environment on various evaporation characteristics were studied. The results suggest that the specific adsorption layers forming on charged surfaces, e. g. from the humidity of the surrounding air, play a key role in the evaporation process. Furthermore, compared to other materials with similar contact angles, LN demonstrated a significantly large evaporation rate. This property might also be attributed to the intrinsic surface charge and could be exploited in heat transfer applications.

Dynamics of elastic, nonheavy spheres sedimenting in a rectangular duct.

Understanding of sedimentation dynamics of particles in bounded fluids is of crucial importance for a wide variety of processes. While there is a profound knowledge base regarding the sedimentation of rigid solid particles, the fundamental principles of sedimentation dynamics of elastic spheres in bounded fluids are not well understood. This especially applies to nonheavy spheres, whose density is close to that of the surrounding medium and which therefore show extended inertial effects upon acceleration. Here, we present model experiments of the sedimentation dynamics of deformable, nonheavy spheres in the presence of walls. Despite the deformations of the particles being small, the particle dynamics of elastic spheres differed fundamentally from that of rigid spheres. Initially, the sedimentation of elastic spheres is comparable with the sedimentation of rigid spheres. From a characteristic onset position of about 10·R, deformability effects kick in and a second acceleration appears. Finally, the deformable spheres reach a terminal sedimentation velocity. The softer the spheres are (in terms of Young's elastic modulus), the higher the terminal velocity is. In the present setup, a terminal velocity up to 9% higher than the velocity for comparable rigid spheres was reached. By analyzing the obtained data, insights into the dynamics are given that could serve as basic approaches for modelling the dynamics of elastic spheres in bounded fluids.

Optical Manipulation of Liquids by Thermal Marangoni Flow along the Air-Water Interfaces of a Superhydrophobic Surface.

The control of liquid motion on the micrometer scale is important for many liquid transport and biomedical applications. An efficient way to trigger liquid motion is by introducing surface tension gradients on free liquid interfaces leading to the Marangoni effect. However, a pronounced Marangoni-driven flow generally only occurs at a liquid-air or liquid-liquid interface but not at solid-liquid interfaces. Using superhydrophobic surfaces, the liquid phase stays in the Cassie state (where liquid is only in contact with the tips of the rough surface structure and air is enclosed in the indentations of the roughness) and hence provides the necessary liquid-air interface to trigger evident Marangoni flows. We use light to asymmetrically heat this interface and thereby control liquid motion near superhydrophobic surfaces. By laser scanning confocal microscopy, we determine the velocity distribution evolving through optical excitation. We show that Marangoni flow can be induced optically at structured, air-entrapping superhydrophobic surfaces. Furthermore, by comparison with numerical modeling, we demonstrate that in addition to the Marangoni flow, buoyancy-driven flow occurs. This effect has so far been neglected in similar approaches and models of thermocapillary driven flow at superhydrophobic surfaces. Our work yields insight into the physics of Marangoni flow and can help in designing new contactless, light-driven liquid transport systems, e.g., for liquid pumping or in microfluidic devices.

Rotation of a submerged finite cylinder moving down a soft incline.

A submerged finite cylinder moving under its own weight along a soft incline lifts off and slides at a steady velocity while also spinning. Here, we experimentally quantify the steady spinning of the cylinder and show theoretically that it is due to a combination of an elastohydrodynamic torque generated by flow in the variable gap, and the viscous friction on the edges of the finite-length cylinder. The relative influence of the latter depends on the aspect ratio of the cylinder, the angle of the incline, and the deformability of the substrate, which we express in terms of a single scaled compliance parameter. By independently varying these quantities, we show that our experimental results are consistent with a transition from an edge-effect dominated regime for short cylinders to a gap-dominated elastohydrodynamic regime when the cylinder is very long.

Control of Droplet Evaporation on Oil-Coated Surfaces for the Synthesis of Asymmetric Supraparticles.

Controlling the droplet evaporation on surfaces is desired to get uniform depositions of materials in many applications, for example, in two- and three-dimensional printing and biosensors. To explore a new route to control droplet evaporation on surfaces and produce asymmetric particles, sessile droplets of aqueous dispersions were allowed to evaporate from surfaces coated with oil films. Here, we applied 1-50 µm thick films of different silicone oils. Two contact lines were observed during droplet evaporation: an apparent liquid-liquid-air contact line and liquid-liquid-solid contact line. Because of the oil meniscus covering part of the rim of the drop, evaporation at the periphery is suppressed. Consequently, the droplet evaporates mainly in the central region of the liquid-air interface rather than at the droplet's edge. Colloidal particles migrate with the generated upward flow inside the droplet and are captured by the receding liquid-air interface. A uniform deposition ultimately forms on the substrate. With this straightforward approach, asymmetric supraparticles have been successfully fabricated independent of particle species.

Local Flow Field and Slip Length of Superhydrophobic Surfaces.

While the global slippage of water past superhydrophobic surfaces has attracted wide interest, the local distribution of slip still remains unclear. Using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, we performed detailed measurements of the local flow field and slip length for water in the Cassie state on a microstructured superhydrophobic surface. We revealed that the local slip length is finite, nonconstant, anisotropic, and sensitive to the presence of surfactants. In combination with numerical calculations of the flow, we can explain all these properties by the local hydrodynamics.

Enhancing CO2 Capture using Robust Superomniphobic Membranes.

Superomniphobic membranes for post-combustion CO2 capture are introduced. Concentrated aqueous amine solutions stay on the topmost part of the membranes, providing a large liquid/CO2 interface. Wetting of the membrane, which reduces the capture efficiency, is prevented. The CO2 capture rates using the chemically, mechanically, and thermally stable superomniphobic membranes are enhanced by up to 40% relative to commercial membranes.

Electro-osmotic flow along superhydrophobic surfaces with embedded electrodes.

The effect of the secondary fluid enclosed in the indentations of a superhydrophobic surface on electro-osmotic flow is investigated. We derive analytical expressions for the net electro-osmotic flow over periodically structured surfaces, accounting for the influence of dissipation within the secondary fluid as well as for the role of charges at the fluid-fluid interfaces that are generated by auxiliary electrodes. Specifically, for a surface with rectangular grooves, the electro-osmotic flow velocity is related to the geometric parameters of the surface and the viscosity of an arbitrary secondary fluid filling the grooves. The results suggest that on specific superhydrophobic surfaces a flow enhancement by more than two orders of magnitude compared to unstructured surfaces can be expected.