Interfacial materials with special wettability have become a burgeoning research area in materials science in the past decade. The unique surface properties of materials and interfaces generated by biomimetic approaches can be leveraged to develop effective solutions to challenging environmental problems. This critical review presents the concept, mechanisms, and fabrication techniques of inter...

The deposition behavior of an inkjet-printed aqueous colloidal mixture of microand nanoparticles onto a glass substrate with systematically varied wettability has been investigated using fluorescence microscopy. Real-time bottom-view images show that particles inside an evaporating drop rearrange themselves near the drop contact line according to their sizes, where smaller particles tend to dep...

It has been reported that planula larvae of some jellyfish prefer artificial substrates for settlement. This research focused on the relationship between the settlement of planulae and the wettability of artificial substrate surfaces. We used atmospheric plasmas to change the wettability of the surfaces of polycarbonate (PC) plates because plasma treatment has no chemical side effects. The trea...

Although the reversible wettability transition between hydrophobic and hydrophilic graphene under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation has been observed, the mechanism for this phenomenon remains unclear. In this work, experimental and theoretical investigations demonstrate that the H2O molecules are split into hydrogen and hydroxyl radicals, which are then captured by the graphene surface through chem...

Driven by its importance in nature and technology, droplet impact on solid surfaces has been studied for decades. To date, research on control of droplet impact outcome has focused on optimizing pre-impact parameters, e.g., droplet size and velocity. Here we follow a different, post-impact, surface engineering approach yielding controlled vectoring and morphing of droplets during and after impa...

Vascular endothelial cell (EC) adhesion and migration are essential processes in re-endothelialization of implanted biomaterials. There is no clear relationship and mechanism between EC adhesion and migration behaviour on surfaces with varying wettabilities. As model substrates, plasma SiO(x):H nanocoatings with well-controlled surface wettability (with water contact angles in the range of 98.5...

Hydrophilisation of polyester textile materials has been investigated over the last twenty years using low-pressure and atmospheric plasmas. According to these studies, wettability and capillarity of fabrics can be significantly improved depending on the process gas used. In the present study, the effects of low pressure O 2 and NH 3 plasma on the morphology and topometry of fabrics on four dif...

The retention and drainage of water on heat exchangers is extremely important in air-conditioning, refrigeration, and heat-pumping systems. In this work, droplets of varying sizes sliding on an inclined heat exchanger materials with and without a wettability gradient are observed using a high-speed camera. The dynamic contact angles, the shape evolution and the velocity of the droplet are obtai...

Cronartium quercuum f. sp. fusiforme is an obligate pathogen of pine and oak. Its basidiospores are specifically adapted to recognize and establish infections on the pine host. Depending on environmental cues, the basidiospores can germinate directly, which typically leads to infection of pine, or indirectly, which usually results in formation of secondary basidiospores. We investigated how cha...