Abstract
The problem of contact line pinning on surfaces is pervasive and contributes to problems from ring stains to ice formation. Here we provide a single conceptual framework for interfacial strategies encompassing five strategies for modifying the solid-liquid interface to remove pinning and increase droplet mobility. Three biomimetic strategies are included, (i) reducing the liquid-solid interfacial area inspired by the Lotus effect, (ii) converting the liquid-solid contact to a solid-solid contact by the formation of a liquid marble inspired by how galling aphids remove honeydew, and (iii) converting the liquid-solid interface to a liquid-lubricant contact by the use of a lubricant impregnated surface inspired by the Nepenthes Pitcher plant. Two further strategies are, (iv) converting the liquid-solid contact to a liquid-vapor contact by using the Leidenfrost effect, and (v) converting the contact to a liquid-liquid-like contact using slippery omniphobic covalent attachment of a liquid-like coating (SOCAL). Using these approaches, we explain how surfaces can be designed to have smart functionality whilst retaining the mobility of contact lines and droplets. Furthermore, we show how droplets can evaporate at constant contact angle, be positioned using a Cheerios effect, transported by boundary reconfiguration in an energy invariant manner, and drive the rotation of solid components in a Leidenfrost heat engine. Our conceptual framework enables the rationale design of surfaces which are slippery to liquids and is relevant to a diverse range of applications.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Barthlott W, Neinhuis C. Purity of the sacred lotus, or escape from contamination in biological surfaces. Planta, 1997, 202, 1–8.
Neinhuis C, Barthlott W. Characterization and distribution of water-repellent, self-cleaning plant surfaces. Annals of Botany, 1997, 79, 667–677.
Onda T, Shibuichi S, Satoh N, Tsujii K. Super-water-repellent fractal surfaces. Langmuir, 1996, 12, 2125–2127.
Quéré D. Rough ideas on wetting. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and Its Applications, 2002, 313, 32–46.
Chen W, Fadeev A Y, Hsieh M C, Oner D, Youngblood J, McCarthy T J. Ultrahydrophobic and ultralyophobic surfaces: Some comments and examples. Langmuir, 1999, 15, 3395–3399.
Coulson S R, Woodward I S, Badyal J P S, Brewer S A, Willis C. Ultralow surface energy plasma polymer films. Chemistry of Materials, 2000, 12, 2031–2038.
Bico J, Tordeux C, Quéré D. Rough wetting. Europhysics Letters, 2001, 55, 214–220.
Lafuma A, Quéré D. Superhydrophobic states. Nature Materials, 2003, 2, 457–460.
Erbil H Y, Demirel A L, Avcı Y, Mert O. Transformation of a simple plastic into a superhydrophobic surface. Science, 2003, 299, 1377–1380.
de Gennes P-G, Brochard-Wyart F, Quéré D. Capillarity and Wetting Phenomena, Springer, New York, USA, 2004.
Sun T, Feng L, Gao X, Jiang L. Bioinspired surfaces with special wettability. Accounts of Chemical Research, 2005, 38, 644–652.
Feng X J, Jiang L. Design and creation of superwetting/antiwetting surfaces. Advanced Materials, 2006, 18, 3063–3078.
Tuteja A, Choi W, Ma M L, Mabry J M, Mazzella S A, Rutledge G C, McKinley G H, Cohen R E. Designing superoleophobic surfaces. Science, 2007, 318, 1618–1622.
Roach P, Shirtcliffe N J, Newton M I. Progess in superhy-drophobic surface development. Soft Matter, 2008, 4, 224–240.
Quéré D. Wetting and roughness. Annual Review of Materials Research, 2008, 38, 71–99.
Zhang X, Shi F, Niu J, Jiang Y G, Wang Z Q. Superhydrophobic surfaces: From structural control to functional application. Journal of Materials Chemistry, 2008, 18, 621–633.
Shirtcliffe N J, McHale G, Atherton S, Newton M I M I. An introduction to superhydrophobicity. Advances in Colloid and Interface Science, 2010, 161, 124–138.
Guo Z, Liu W, Su B-L. Superhydrophobic surfaces: From natural to biomimetic to functional. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2011, 353, 335–355.
Su B, Tian Y, Jiang L. Bioinspired interfaces with superwettability: From materials to chemistry. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2016, 138, 1727–1748.
Benton T G, Foster W. Altruistic housekeeping in a social aphid. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 1992, 247, 199–202.
Pike N, Richard D, Foster W, Mahadevan L. How aphids lose their marbles. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2002, 269, 1211–1215.
Aussillous P, Quéré D. Liquid marbles. Nature, 2001, 411, 924–927.
Aussillous P, Quéré D. Properties of liquid marbles. Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 2006, 462, 973–999.
Binks B P, Murakami R. Phase inversion of particlestabilized materials from foams to dry water. Nature Materials, 2006, 5, 865–869.
Gao L, McCarthy T J. Ionic liquid marbles. Langmuir, 2007, 23, 10445–10447.
Xue Y H, Wang H X, Zhao Y, Dai L M, Feng L F, Wang X G, Lin T. Magnetic liquid marbles: A “precise” miniature reactor. Advanced Materials, 2010, 22, 4814–4818.
McHale G, Newton M I. Liquid marbles: Principles and applications. Soft Matter, 2011, 7, 5473–5481.
Bormashenko E. Liquid marbles: Properties and applications. Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science, 2011, 16, 266–271.
Zhang L B, Cha D K, Wang P. Remotely controllable liquid marbles. Advanced Materials, 2012, 24, 4756–4760.
McHale G, Newton M I. Liquid marbles: Topical context within soft matter and recent progress. Soft Matter, 2015, 11, 2530–2546.
Binks B P, Johnston S K, Sekine T, Tyowua A T. Particles at oil-air surfaces: Powdered oil, liquid oil marbles, and oil foam. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2015, 7, 14328–14337.
Bormashenko E. Liquid marbles, elastic nonstick droplets: From minireactors to self-propulsion. Langmuir, 2017, 33, 663–669.
Binks B P. Colloidal particles at a range of fluid-fluid interfaces. Langmuir, 2017, 33, 6947–6963.
Bico J, Roman B, Moulin L, Boudaoud A. Elastocapillary coalescence in wet hair. Nature, 2004, 432, 690–690.
Gao L, McCarthy T J. Teflon is hydrophilic. Comments on definitions of hydrophobic, shear versus tensile hydrophobicity, and wettability characterization. Langmuir, 2008, 24, 9183–9188.
McHale G. All solids, including Teflon, are hydrophilic (to some extent), but some have roughness induced hydrophobic tendencies. Langmuir, 2009, 25, 7185–7187.
Py C, Reverdy P, Doppler L, Bico J, Roman B, Baroud C N. Capillary origami: Spontaneous wrapping of a droplet with an elastic sheet. Physical Review Letters, 2007, 98, 156103.
Chen L Q, Wang X, Wen W J, Li Z G. Critical droplet volume for spontaneous capillary wrapping. Applied Physics Letters, 2010, 97, 124103.
van Honschoten J W, Berenschot J W, Ondarcuhu T, Sanders R G P, Sundaram J, Elwenspoek M, Tas N R. Elastocapillary fabrication of three-dimensional microstructures. Applied Physics Letters, 2010, 97, 014103.
McHale G, Newton M I, Shirtcliffe N J, Geraldi N R. Capillary origami: Superhydrophobic ribbon surfaces and liquid marbles. Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology, 2011, 2, 145–151.
Geraldi N R, Ouali F F, Morris R H, McHale G, Newton M I. Capillary Origami and superhydrophobic membrane surfaces. Applied Physics Letters, 2013, 102, p214104.
Paulsen J D, Demery V, Santangelo C D, Russell T P, Davidovitch B, Menon N. Optimal wrapping of liquid droplets with ultrathin sheets. Nature Materials, 2015, 14, 1206–1209.
Bohn H F, Federle W. Insect aquaplaning: Nepenthes pitcher plants capture prey with the peristome, a fully wettable water-lubricated anisotropic surface. Proceedings of the National-Academy of Sciences, 2004, 101, 14138–14143.
Bauer U, Bohn H F, Federle W. Harmless nectar source or deadly trap: Nepenthes pitchers are activated by rain, condensation and nectar. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2008, 275, 259–265.
Bauer U, Federle W. The insect-trapping rim of Nepenthes pitchers. Plant Signaling & Behavior, 2009, 4, 1019–1023.
Féat A, Federle W, Kamperman M, van der Gucht J. Coatings preventing insect adhesion: An overview. Progress in Organic Coatings, 2019, 134, 349–359.
Wong T S, Kang S H, Tang S K Y, Smythe E J, Hatton, B D, Grinthal A, Aizenberg J. Bioinspired self-repairing slippery surfaces with pressure-stable omniphobicity. Nature, 2011, 477, 443–447.
Smith J D, Dhiman R, Anand S, Reza-Garduno E, Cohen R E, McKinley G H, Varanasi K K. Droplet mobility on lubricantimpregnated surfaces. Soft Matter, 2013, 9, 1772–1780.
Solomon B R, Subramanyam S B, Farnham T A, Khalil K S, Anand S, Varanasi K K. Lubricant-impregnated surfaces. In: Ras R H A, Marmur A eds., Non-wettable Surfaces: Theory, Preparation and Applications, Royal Society of Chemistry, UK, 2016.
Bico J, Thiele U, Quéré D. Wetting of textured surfaces. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 2002, 206, 41–46.
Ishino C, Reyssat M, Reyssat E, Okumura K, Quéré D. Wicking within forests of micropillars. Europhysics Letters, 2007, 79, 56005.
Quéré D. Wetting and roughness. Annual Review of Materials Research, 2008, 38, 71–99.
Lafuma A, Quéré D. Slippery pre-suffused surfaces. EPL, 2011, 96, 56001.
Seiwert J, Clanet C, Quéré D. Coating of a textured solid. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2011, 669, 55–63.
Rykaczewski K, Paxson A T, Staymates M, Walker M L, Sun X D, Anand S, Srinivasan S, McKinley G H, Chinn J, Scott J H J. Dropwise condensation of low surface tension fluids on omniphobic surfaces. Scientific Reports, 2014, 4, 4158.
Solomon B R, Khalil K S, Varanasi K K. Drag reduction using lubricant-impregnated surfaces in viscous laminar flow. Langmuir, 2014, 30, 10970–10976.
Schellenberger F, Xie J, Encinas N, Hardy A, Klapper M, Papadopoulos P, Butt H J, Vollmer D. Direct observation of drops on slippery lubricant-infused surfaces. Soft Matter, 2015, 11, 7617–7626.
Anand S, Rykaczewski K, Subramanyam S B, Beysens D, Varanasi K K. How droplets nucleate and grow on liquids and liquid impregnated surfaces. Soft Matter, 2015, 11, 69–80.
Cao M Y, Guo D W, Yu C M, Li K, Liu M J, Jiang L. Water-repellent properties of superhydrophobic and lubricant-infused “slippery” surfaces: A brief study on the functions and applications. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2016, 8, 3615–3623.
Daniel D, Timonen J V I, Li R, Velling S J, Aizenberg J. Oleoplaning droplets on lubricated surfaces. Nature Physics, 2017, 13, 1020–1025.
Kreder M J, Daniel D, Tetreault A, Cao Z L, Lemaire B, Timonen J V I, Aizenberg J. Film dynamics and lubricant depletion by droplets moving on lubricated surfaces. Physical Review X, 2018, 8, 031053.
Daniel D, Timonen J V I, Li R P, Velling S J, Kreder M J, Tetreault A, Aizenberg J. Origins of extreme liquid repellency on structured, flat, and lubricated hydrophobic surfaces. Physical Review Letters, 2018, 120, 244503.
Keiser A, Keiser L, Clanet C, Quere D. Drop friction on liquid-infused materials. Soft Matter, 2017, 13, 6981–6987.
Keiser A, Baumli P, Vollmer D, Quéré D. Universality of friction laws on liquid-infused materials. Physical Review Fluids, 2020, 5, 014005.
Huang C W, Guo Z G. Fabrications and applications of slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces inspired from nature: A review. Journal of Bionic Engineering, 2019, 16, 769–793.
Zhang J X, Yao Z H. Slippery properties and the robustness of lubricant-impregnated surfaces. Journal of Bionic Engineering, 2019, 16, 291–298.
Adamson A W, Gast A P. Physical Chemistry of Surfaces, 4th ed., John Wiley, New York, USA, 1997.
de Gennes P G, Gennes P De. Wetting: Statics and dynamics. Reviews of Modern Physics, 1985, 57, 827–863.
Furmidge C G L. Studies at phase interfaces. I. Sliding of liquid drops on solid surfaces and a theory for spray retention. Journal of Colloid Science, 1962, 17, 309–324.
Cassie A B D, Baxter S. Wettability of porous surfaces. Transactions of the Faraday Society, 1944, 40, 546–551.
Johnson R E, Dettre R H. Contact angle hysteresis. In: Fowkes F M, ed., Contact Angle, Wettablity and Adhesion, American Chemical Society, Washington, USA, 1964, 112–135.
Leidenfrost J G. De Aquae Communis Nonnullis Qualitatibus Tractatus, Duisburg, Germany, 1756.
Biance A-L, Clanet C, Quéré D. Leidenfrost drops. Physics of Fluids, 2003, 15, 1632–1637.
Quéré D. Leidenfrost dynamics. Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, 2013, 45, 197–215.
Semprebon C, McHale G, Kusumaatmaja H. Apparent contact angle and contact angle hysteresis on liquid infused surfaces. Soft Matter, 2017, 13, 101–110.
McHale G, Orme B V, Wells G G, Ledesma-Aguilar R. Apparent contact angles on lubricant-impregnated surfaces/SLIPS: From superhydrophobicity to electrowetting. Langmuir, 2019, 35, 4197–4204.
Wang L, McCarthy T J. Covalently attached liquids: Instant omniphobic surfaces with unprecedented repellency. Angewandte Chemie — International Edition, 2016, 55, 244–248.
Birdi K S, Vu D T, Winter A. A study of the evaporation rates of small water drops placed on a solid surface. The Journal of Physical Chemistry, 1989, 93, 3702–3703.
Picknett R, Bexon R. The evaporation of sessile or pendant drops in still air. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 1977, 61, 336–350.
Erbil H Y. Evaporation of pure liquid sessile and spherical suspended drops: A review. Advances in Colloid and interface Science, 2012, 170, 67–86.
Deegan R D, Bakajin O, Dupont T F, Huber G, Witten T A. Capillary flow as the cause of ring stains from dried liquid drops. Nature, 1997, 389, 827–829.
McHale G. Surface free energy and microarray deposition technology. Analyst, 2007, 132, 192–195.
Guan J H, Wells G G, Xu B, McHale G, Wood D, Martin J, Stuart-Cole S. Evaporation of sessile droplets on slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPS). Langmuir, 2015, 31, 11781–11789.
Armstrong S, McHale G, Ledesma-Aguilar R, Wells G G. Pinning-free evaporation of sessile droplets of water from solid surfaces. Langmuir, 2019, 35, 2989–2996.
Kralchevsky P A, Nagayama K. Capillary interactions between particles bound to interfaces, liquid films and biomembranes. Advances in Colloid and Interface Science, 2000, 85, 145–192.
Vella D, Mahadevan L. The “Cheerios effect”. American Journal of Physics, 2005, 73, 817–825.
Gart S, Vella D, Jung S. The collective motion of nematodes in a thin liquid layer. Soft Matter, 2011, 7, 2444–2448.
Hu D L, Bush J W M. Meniscus-climbing insects. Nature, 2005, 437, 733–736.
Guan J H, Ruiz-Gutierrez E, Xu B B, Wood D, McHale G, Ledesma-Aguilar R, Wells G G. Drop transport and positioning on lubricant-impregnated surfaces. Soft Matter, 2017, 13, 3404–3410.
Karpitschka S, Pandey A, Lubbers L A, Weijs J H, Botto L, Das S, Andreotti B, Snoeijer J H. Liquid drops attract or repel by the inverted Cheerios effect. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2016, 113, 7403–7407.
Ruiz-Gutiérrez É, Guan J H, Xu B, McHale G, Wells G G, Ledesma-Aguilar R. Energy invariance in capillary systems. Physical Review Letters, 2017, 118, 218003.
Ruiz-Gutiérrez É, Semprebon C, McHale G, Ledesma-Aguilar R. Statics and dynamics of liquid barrels in wedge geometries. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2018, 842, 26–57.
Baratian D, Cavalli A, van den Ende D, Mugele F. On the shape of a droplet in a wedge: New insight from electrowetting. Soft Matter, 2015, 201, 7717–7721.
Wells G G, Ruiz-Gutierrez E, Le Lirzin Y, Nourry A, Orme B V, Pradas M, Ledesma-Aguilar R. Snap evaporation of droplets on smooth topographies. Nature Communications, 2018, 9, 1380.
Linke H, Aleman B J, Melling L D, Taormina M J, Francis M J, Dow-Hygelund C C, Narayanan V, Taylor R P, Stout A. Self-propelled leidenfrost droplets. Physical Review Letters, 2006, 96, 2–5.
Lagubeau G, Le Merrer M, Clanet C, Quéré D. Leidenfrost on a ratchet. Nature Physics, 2011, 7, 395–398.
Wells G G, Ledesma-Aguilar R, McHale G, Sefiane K. A sublimation heat engine. Nature Communications, 2015, 6, 6390.
Agrawal P, Wells G G, Ledesma-Aguilar R, McHale G, Buchoux A, Stokes A, Sefiane K. Leidenfrost heat engine: Sustained rotation of levitating rotors on turbine-inspired substrates. Applied Energy, 2019, 240, 399–408.
Dodd L E, Wood D, Geraldi N R, Wells G G, McHale G, Xu B B, Stuart-Cole S, Martin J, Newton M I. Low friction droplet transportation on a substrate with a selective Leidenfrost effect. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2016, 8, 22658–22663.
Acknowledgment
Many co-workers contributed to the work described and to development of the ideas including, Dr. Prashant Agrawal, Mr Steven Armstrong, Dr. Linzi Dodd, Dr. Jian (James) H. Guan, Dr. Elfego Ruiz-Gutiérrez, Dr. Halim Kusumaatmaja, Dr. Bethany V. Orme, Professor Khellil Sefiane, Dr. Ciro Semprebon, Professor Dominic Vella, Professor David Wood and Dr. Ben B. Xu. This work was financially supported in part by the UK Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC grants EP/P005896/1 and EP/P005705/1) and Reece Innovation Ltd.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.
The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.
To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
About this article
Cite this article
McHale, G., Ledesma-Aguilar, R. & Wells, G.G. Interfacial Strategies for Smart Slippery Surfaces. J Bionic Eng 17, 633–643 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-020-0057-9
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-020-0057-9