Ternary Dewetting: The Flow Physics of Cleaning using Limited Resources

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The removal of liquids, or dewetting, from rough, heterogeneous and structured solid surfaces is central to many engineering and industrial processes, from oil spill cleanup to the cleaning of fabrics and surfaces at home. To date, the majority of studies on dewetting have been limited to binary fluid systems: a droplet removal in the presence of a surrounding bath of gas or liquid. In contrast, this project is concerned with achieving dewetting in ternary-fluid systems, where the droplet is simultaneously interacting with several fluid phases. The project's overarching motivation is to investigate whether such a process can lead to wettability alteration that is more local and can be employed in resource-constrained environments (limited water, polymers and surfactants).