Title

Self-Propulsion of Droplets by Spatially-Varying Roughness

Author(s)/Creator(s)

Mark Bowick, Department of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NYFollow
Zhenwei Yao, Syracuse University

Document Type

Article

Date

6-28-2011

Language

English

Disciplines

Physics

Description/Abstract

Under partial wetting conditions, making a substrate uniformly rougher enhances the wetting characteristics of the corresponding smooth substrate {--} hydrophilic systems become even more hydrophilic and hydrophobic systems even more hydrophobic. Here we show that spatial texturing of the roughness may lead to spontaneous propulsion of droplets. Individual droplets are driven toward regions of maximal roughness for intrinsically hydrophilic systems and toward regions of minimal roughness for intrinsically hydrophobic systems. Spatial texturing can be achieved by wrinkling the substrate with sinusoidal grooves whose wavelength varies in one direction (inhomogeneous wrinkling) or lithographically etching a radial pattern of fractal (Koch curve) grooves on the substrate. Richer energy landscapes for droplet trajectories can be designed by combining roughness texturing with chemical or material patterning of the substrate.

Additional Information

4 pages, 4 figures More information at http://arxiv.org/abs/1106.5542

Recommended Citation

Bowick, Mark and Yao, Zhenwei, "Self-Propulsion of Droplets by Spatially-Varying Roughness" (2011). Physics - All Scholarship. 134.
https://surface.syr.edu/phy/134

Source

Harvested from Arxiv.org

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.