Dynamic wetting problems are fundamental to understanding the interaction between liquids and solids. Even in a superficially simple experimental situation, such as a droplet spreading over a dry surface, the result may depend not only on the liquid properties but also strongly on the substrate-surface properties; even for macroscopically smooth surfaces, the microscopic geometrical roughness can be important. In addition, because surfaces may often be naturally charged or electric fields are used to manipulate fluids, electric effects are crucial components that influence wetting phenomena. We investigate the interplay between electric forces and surface structures in dynamic wetting. Although surface microstructures can significantly hinder spreading, we find that electrostatics can "cloak" the microstructures, that is, deactivate the hindering. We identify the physics in terms of reduction in contact-line friction, which makes the dynamic wetting inertial force dominant and insensitive to the substrate properties.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1602202 | DOI Listing |
Plant Cell Environ
January 2025
Civil, Environmental, and Mining Engineering, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
Understanding and predicting plant water dynamics during and after water stress is increasingly important but challenging because the high-dimensional nature of the soil-plant-atmosphere system makes it difficult to identify mechanisms and constrain behaviour. Datasets that capture hydrological, physiological and meteorological variation during changing water availability are relatively rare but offer a potentially valuable resource to constrain plant water dynamics. This study reports on a drydown and re-wetting experiment of potted Populus trichocarpa, which intensively characterised plant water fluxes, water status and water sources.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLangmuir
January 2025
Department of Chemistry, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, United States.
Slip flow, a fluid flow enhanced in comparison to that calculated using continuum equations, has been reported for many nanopores, mostly those with hydrophobic surfaces. We investigated the flow of water, hexane, and methanol through hydrophilic nanopores in silica colloidal crystals. Three silica sphere sizes were used to prepare the crystals: 150 ± 30, 500 ± 40, and 1500 ± 100 nm.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSoft Matter
January 2025
Center of Excellence in Energy Conversion (CEEC), Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.
Recent progress in digital microfluidics has revealed the distinct advantages of liquid marbles, such as minimal surface friction, reduced evaporation rates, and non-wettability compared to uncoated droplets. This study provides a comprehensive examination of an innovative technique for the precise, contamination-free manipulation of non-magnetic water liquid marbles (WLMs) carried by a ferrofluid liquid marble (FLM) under the control of direct current (DC) and pulse-width modulation (PWM) magnetic fields. The concept relies on the phenomenon in which an FLM and WLMs form a shared meniscus when placed together on a water surface, causing the WLMs to closely track the magnetically actuated FLM.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLangmuir
January 2025
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Refrigeration Technology, Tianjin University of Commerce, Tianjin 300134, China.
Self-cleaning applications based on bionic surface designs requires an in-depth understanding of unique and complex wetting and evaporation processes of sessile droplets on natural biosurfaces. To this end, hydrophobic bamboo and Kalanchoe blossfeldiana leaves are excellent candidates for self-cleaning applications, but various properties, such as the heat and mass transfer processes during evaporation, remain unknown. Here, the dynamics of contact angle, radius, and heat and mass transfer during evaporation of sessile droplets on bamboo and Kalanchoe blossfeldiana leaves with roughness in the range 2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Phys Chem B
January 2025
Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States.
Liquid phase-separating proteins can form condensates that play an important role in spatial and temporal organization of biological cells. The understanding of the mechanisms that lead to the formation of protein condensates and their interactions with other biomolecules may lead to processing routes for soft materials with tailored geometry and function. Fused in sarcoma (FUS) is an example of a nuclear protein that forms stable complexes, and recent studies have highlighted its ability to wet actin filaments and bundle them into networks.
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