Abstract
Superhydrophobic surfaces submerged in liquids are susceptible to permanently becoming wet. This is especially true when the ambient liquid is pressurized or undersaturated with air. To gain insight into the thermodynamics of restoring underwater superhydrophobicity, nucleation theory is applied to the design of spontaneously dewetting conical pores. It is found that, for intrinsically hydrophobic materials, there is a geometric constraint for which reversible superhydrophobic behavior may occur. Molecular dynamics simulations are implemented to support the theory, and steered molecular dynamics simulations are used to investigate the energy landscape of the dewetting process. The results of this work have implications for the efficacy of underwater superhydrophobicity and enhanced nucleation sites for boiling heat transfer.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2911-2919 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Langmuir |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue number | 11 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 21 2017 |
Funding
The authors thank Professor Sinan Keten for beneficial discussions. Support from the Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN) is gratefully acknowledged. This research was supported in part through the computational resources and staff contributions provided for the Quest high performance computing facility at Northwestern University, which is jointly supported by the Office of the Provost, the Office for Research, and Northwestern University Information Technology. Support from the McCormick Catalyst Award at Northwestern University is also acknowledged.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Condensed Matter Physics
- General Materials Science
- Spectroscopy
- Surfaces and Interfaces
- Electrochemistry