courtesy of Dataphysics

In January 2022, authors Lizhong Wang et al. published an article in Nature Communications with the title Spontaneous dewetting transitions of droplets during icing and melting cycle. In it, they describe how the structure of a surface can influence the behaviour of a droplet during freezing and melting.

In many industries, surfaces on which water droplets roll off easily are highly sought after. On some structured surfaces, droplets come to rest in the so-called Cassie-Baxter state, meaning they sit on top of air pockets formed in the surface structure's indentations, and subsequently roll off the surface easily. In some applications, it is vital that surfaces keep those properties after the water drops freeze and melt repeatedly, for example when designing airplanes. However, after one or more icing and melting cycles, air pockets underneath the droplets can disappear, meaning the drop transitions to the sticky Wenzel-state, and the water droplets do not roll off as easily as before. Using four differently micro- and nano-structured surfaces as examples, the authors of this study show how a certain surface structure can help to retain good dewetting behaviour even after repeated icing and melting cycles.

We are proud that one of our contact angle meters of the OCA series was used in the experiments conducted for this study. The entire publication can be read on the journal's website, following the link below. Read More