Capillary-Driven Water Transport by Contrast Wettability-Based Durable Surfaces.

Controlling water transport and management is crucial for continuous and reliable system operation in harsh weather conditions. Passive strategies based on nonwetting surfaces are desirable, but so far, the implementation of superhydrophobic coatings into real-world applications has been limited by durability issues and, in some cases, lack of compliance with environmental regulations. Inspired by surface patterning observed on living organisms, in this study we have developed durable surfaces based on contrast wettability for capillary-driven water transport and management.

Highly tunable β-relaxation enables the tailoring of crystallization in phase-change materials.

In glasses, secondary (β-) relaxations are the predominant source of atomic dynamics. Recently, they have been discovered in covalently bonded glasses, i.e.