What is it about?
We demonstrated that a surface with switchable wettability induces depinning of the contact line through the re-orientation of anisotropic liquid crystal molecules. It is investigated the dynamics of contact lines and contact angles during the initiation of drop movement. We found that the imbalance between advancing and receding angles with respect to the dynamic contact angle provides the force needed to overcome the energy barrier due to contact angle hysteresis on the surface. The impacts of this study are water harvesters, biosensors, and oil-water separators.
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Why is it important?
Actively controlling drop transportation is achieved with switchable wettability via remote stimuli. However, fundamental mechanism how a water drop transport on a tunable surface through the re-orientation of anisotropic molecules is not fully understood. Here, we found that the imbalance between advancing and receding angles with respect to the dynamic contact angle provides the force needed to overcome the energy barrier due to contact angle hysteresis on the surface.
Perspectives
Our study provides insight into how a sessile drop is depinned on a switchable surface by means of liquid crystal molecules. I hope using the proposed Hsin-film in this article to condensate the water from the air first and then move the water drop away by manipulation of liquid crystal molecules. Ultimately, we could collect water from air based on liquid crystals.
Yi-Hsin Lin
National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Water drop transportation on wettability switchable surface via anisotropic molecules, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, October 2024, American Institute of Physics,
DOI: 10.1063/5.0232611.
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