Zhou Limin, Yang Shumin, Quan Nannan, Geng Zhanli, Wang Shuo, Zhao Binyu, Wang Xingya, Dong Yaming, Tai Renzhong, Hu Jun, Zhang Lijuan
Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201204, China.
Life and Environment Science College, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2021 Nov 24;13(46):55726-55734. doi: 10.1021/acsami.1c17139. Epub 2021 Nov 11.
Surfaces with nanostructure patterning are broadly encountered in nature, and they play a significant role in regulating various phenomena such as phase transition at the liquid/solid interface. Here, we designed two kinds of template substrates with periodic nanostructure patterns [i.e., nanotrench (NT) and nanopore (NP)]. Surface nanodroplets produced on these nanostructure surfaces were characterized to acquire their morphology and wetting properties. We show that nanostructure patterning could effectively regulate the shape, contact radius, and nucleate site of nanodroplets. While nanodroplets on the NT structure are constrained in one dimension, nanodroplets on the NP structure have enhanced the wetting property with constraints from two dimensions. Further numerical analysis indicates that the morphology and contact angles of nanodroplets on the NT structure depend on the substrate wettability and the droplet volume. These observations demonstrate how physical geometry and chemical heterogeneity of a substrate surface affect the growth and spreading of surface nanodroplets, which deepens our understanding on nanoscale phase separation.
具有纳米结构图案的表面在自然界中广泛存在，它们在调节各种现象（如液/固界面处的相变）中发挥着重要作用。在此，我们设计了两种具有周期性纳米结构图案的模板基板[即纳米沟槽（NT）和纳米孔（NP）]。对在这些纳米结构表面上产生的表面纳米液滴进行了表征，以获取它们的形态和润湿性。我们表明，纳米结构图案可以有效地调节纳米液滴的形状、接触半径和成核位置。虽然NT结构上的纳米液滴在一维上受到限制，但NP结构上的纳米液滴在二维限制下具有增强的润湿性。进一步的数值分析表明，NT结构上纳米液滴的形态和接触角取决于基板的润湿性和液滴体积。这些观察结果证明了基板表面的物理几何形状和化学不均匀性如何影响表面纳米液滴的生长和扩散，这加深了我们对纳米级相分离的理解。
