Surface engineering through chemical & topographical manipulation and drop dynamics on such surfaces

《自然》杂志提供了荷叶表面工程的例子，当雨滴滚动到荷叶上时，荷叶可以自动清洁。这种惊人的自清洁性能归功于表面形貌、化学成分和液滴运动。了解液滴在固体表面上运动的物理学，以及在运动的早期阶段什么可以促进或阻碍这种运动，以及如何以及可以通过化学或地形对表面进行什么操作来操纵液滴的运动，是这项提议的主题。了解上述问题的意义不仅具有学术意义，也具有工业应用价值；例如，燃料电池的工程表面可以使通道中的液滴脱落以避免其泛滥，从而提高效率，或者冷凝器以液滴方式而不是薄膜冷凝模式运行，这将大大提高性能。

Nature provides examples of surface engineering in Lotus leaves that are self-cleaning when rain drops roll on these leaves. This amazing self-cleaning property is due to surface topography, chemistry and drop motion. Understanding the physics of drop motion on solid surfaces and what can facilitate or hinder this motion at early stages of movement along with how and what can be done to a surface chemically or topographically to manipulate drop movement are the subjects of this proposal. The implications of understanding above issues is not only of academic interest, but also of industrial applications; e.g., engineered surfaces for fuel cell can allow drop shedding in channels to avoid their flooding resulting in enhanced efficiency, or condensers that operate in drop-wise rather than film condensation mode, which will have much improved performance.