Topography-Regulated Disorder-to-Order Transition of Condensation Droplets

Jing Sun, Yongsen Zhou, Xuan Chen, Zuankai Wang

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Condensation of water vapor is a random, transient, and multiscale process prevalent in a variety of natural and industrial processes. Here, we demonstrate that it is possible to transform the disordered distribution of condensate droplets into temporary ordered arrays on chemically homogeneous but physically heterogeneous surfaces, a phenomenon that has not been systematically investigated in a previous study. We show that such a disorder-to-order transition demands an exquisite competition between the length scales of droplets and cavities. In particular, the confinement effect imposed by the patterned cavities should be well controlled to allow the energetically favorable transition.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)6188-6192
Number of pages5
JournalLangmuir
Volume36
Issue number22
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 9 Jun 2020
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Materials Science
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Surfaces and Interfaces
  • Spectroscopy
  • Electrochemistry

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