Yahui Xue

Importance of hierarchical structures in wetting stability on submersed superhydrophobic surfaces.

Submersed superhydrophobic surfaces exhibit great potential for reducing flow resistance in microchannels and drag of submersed bodies. However, the low stability of liquid-air interfaces on those surfaces limits the scope of their application, especially under high liquid pressure. In this paper, we first investigate the wetting states on submersed hydrophobic surfaces with one-level structure under hydrostatic pressure. Different equilibrium states based on free-energy minimization are formulated, and their stabilities are analyzed as well. Then, by comparison with the existing numerical and experimental studies, we confirm that a new metastable state, which happens after depinning of the three-phase contact line (TCL), exists. Finally, we show that a strategy of using hierarchical structures can strengthen the TCL pinning of the liquid-air interface in the metastable state. Therefore, the hierarchical structure on submersed surfaces is important to further improve the stability of superhydrophobicity under high liquid pressure.

How Solid–Liquid Adhesive Property Regulates Liquid Slippage on Solid Surfaces?

The influence of solid-liquid adhesive property on liquid slippage at solid surfaces has been investigated using experiment approach on well-defined model surfaces as well as theoretical analysis. Based on a classical molecular-kinetic description for molecular and hydrodynamic slip, we propose a simple theoretical model that directly relates the liquid slip length to the liquid adhesive force on solid surfaces, which yields an exponential decay function. Well-defined smooth surfaces with varied surface wettability/adhesion are fabricated by forming self-assembled monolayers on gold with different mole ratios of hydrophobic and hydrophilic thiols. The adhesive force of a water droplet and the molecular slippage on these surfaces are probed by surface force apparatus and quartz crystal microbalance measurements, respectively. The experiment results are well consistent with our theoretical prediction. Our finding benefits the understanding of the underlying mechanism of liquid slippage on solid surfaces at molecular level and the rational design of microfluidics with an aim to be frictionless or highly controllable.

A Switchable and Compressible Carbon Nanotube Sponge Electrocapillary Imbiber

Carbon nanotube sponges are lightweight, conductive, highly porous, and flexible. An integration of these properties is suitable for constructing high-performance electrocapillary imbibers. Water imbibition into the sponges can be initiated at low potentials with tunable uptake rates and switched on and off reversibly. These controllable nanoporous imbibers have potential applications in a wide range of flexible micro- and nanofluidic systems.

Morphology of gas cavities on patterned hydrophobic surfaces under reduced pressure

Gas cavities trapped on structured hydrophobic surfaces play important roles in realizing functionalities such as superhydrophobicity, drag reduction, and surface cleaning. The morphology of the cavities exhibits strong dependence on system parameters which impact the performance of these surfaces. In this work, a complete theoretical analysis is presented to predict cavity morphological change under reduced liquid pressure, on a submerged hydrophobic surface patterned with cylindrical pores. Equilibrium solutions are derived for five different phases, namely, (I) pinned recession, (II) depinned recession, (III) Cassie-Baxter, (IV) expansion, and (V) coalescence; their stabilities are also analyzed. A phase map is developed outlining the different regimes with respect to the gas amount and liquid pressure. Importantly, phase (IV) exhibits a complex stability behavior that leads to two possible routes to coalescence, which lends two different mechanisms of cavitation. Accordingly, the threshold pressure fo...

Direct Oil Recovery from Saturated Carbon Nanotube Sponges

Oil adsorption by porous materials is a major strategy for water purification and industrial spill cleanup; it is of great interest if the adsorbed oil can be safely recovered from those porous media. Here, direct oil recovery from fully saturated bulk carbon nanotube (CNT) sponges by displacing oil with water in controlled manner is shown. Surfactant-assisted electrocapillary imbibition is adopted to drive aqueous electrolyte into the sponge and extrude organic oil out continuously at low potentials (up to -1.2 V). More than 95 wt % of oil adsorbed within the sponge can be recovered, via a single electrocapillary process. Recovery of different oils with a wide range of viscosities is demonstrated, and the remaining CNT sponge can be reused with similar recovery capacity. A direct and efficient method is provided to recover oil from CNT sponges by water imbibition, which has many potential environmental and energy applications.

VIBRATION OF CANTILEVERS WITH ROUGH SURFACES

We study the effect of surface roughness on the resonance frequency of micro-cantilever sensors. The analysis demonstrates that surface roughness can enhance, decrease or even annul the effect of surface stress on the resonance frequency, depending on the surface inclination angle and the Poisson ratio of the coating film on the cantilever.

Morphological bubble evolution induced by air diffusion on submerged hydrophobic structures

Bubbles trapped in the cavities always play important roles in the underwater applications of structured hydrophobic surfaces. Air exchange between bubbles and surrounding water has a significant influence on the morphological bubble evolution, which in turn frequently affects the functionalities of the surfaces, such as superhydrophobicity and drag reduction. In this paper, air diffusion induced bubble evolution on submerged hydrophobic micropores under reduced pressures is investigated experimentally and theoretically. The morphological behaviors of collective and single bubbles are observed using confocal microscopy. Four representative evolution phases of bubbles are captured in situ. After depressurization, bubbles will not only grow and coalesce but also shrink and split although the applied pressure remains negative. A diffusion-based model is used to analyze the evolution behavior and the results are consistent with the experimental data. A criterion for bubble growth and shrinkage is also derived...