Research tools for under-water wetting dynamics

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The "needle-free" under-water drop deposition, a latest innovation by the applicant, allows depositing drops of a given liquid on any substrate placed inside another liquid. This timely discovery has propelled the applicant to venture into a very new area of discovery research and development, which can explain different natural wetting phenomena, including those that govern the survival of marine ecosystem under different environmental stresses. The research tools requested in this proposal comprised of optical and mechanical systems, which will be integrated with a commercial contact angle measurement system (DSA 100). Such customized assembly of different components onto an existing commercial product will enable researchers to study the under-water drop dynamics and provide critical fundamental knowledge of wetting for large number of problems ranging from equilibrium signature of under-water drop to drop coalescence and impact. The proposed research tools will aim to open a new window of understanding of the capillarity and wetting dynamics on solids placed inside a liquid. Presence of a surrounding viscous medium would alter the classical description of wetting and capillarity, and the proposed research tools would aim to address the relevant fundamental issues. Equally importantly, the proposed research would be indispensable for applications like mitigation of effects of disasters like oil-spill on marine species (e.g., recent Gulf oil spill), reducing impact of energy exploration on aquatic species (e.g., impact of tailings from oilsands activities on fish), development of efficient under-water or sea-faring vehicles with antifouling properties, etc. The research tools will train a large number of HQPs with a goal to create a trained workforce based on seamless integration of fundamental science with applied research in engineering. The novel results and outcomes will provide the research community with much needed better understanding of "under-water" oil repellent surfaces. It will make Canada one of the leaders in understanding environmental impact of oil spills, oilsands tailings, etc. and will propel the applicant's research group as one of the scientific leaders in the wetting community.