Surface 2019, surface charge density (SCD) gradient printing-driven droplet transport, has attracted considerable attention as a novel and effective approach, which adopts the water droplet impacting a nonwetting surface to create a reprintable SCD gradient pathway conveniently and realizes the high-velocity and long-distance transport of droplets. In the present work, we further investigated the effects of electrothermal behavior on SCD gradient printing on hydrophobic surfaces by considering the droplet impact dynamics. After the electrothermal function was activated, the wettability of the hydrophobic surface improved in terms of the spreading factor history and the infiltration depth, which increased the probability of solid/liquid contact electrification to generate a more favorable SCD gradient. Since the hydrophobic surface was negatively charged by droplet impact, polarized droplets rolled forward along the preprinted SCD gradient pathway due to opposite charge attraction. Based on these results, we designed a SCD gradient printer with an electrothermal function for hydrophobic surfaces. Subsequently, the kinematic parameters of rolling droplets on hydrophobic surfaces were observed and quantified to evaluate the improvements resulting from the electrothermal function.

Traditional strategies, such as morphological or chemical gradients, struggle to realize the high-velocity and long-distance transport for droplets on a solid surface because of the pinning hydrodynamic equilibrium. Thus, there is a continuing challenge for practical technology to drive droplet transport over the last decades. The surface charge density (SCD) gradient printing method overcame the theoretical limit of traditional strategies and tackled this challenge [Nat. Mater. 2019, 18: 936], which utilized the asymmetric electric force to realize the high-velocity and long-distance droplet transport along a preprinted SCD gradient pathway. In the present work, by coupling the electrostatics and the hydrodynamics, we developed an unexplored numerical model for the water droplet transporting along the charged superhydrophobic surface. Subsequently, the effects of SCD gradients on the droplet transport were systematically discussed, and an optimized method for SCD gradient printing was proposed according to the numerical results. The present approach can provide early guidance for the SCD gradient printing to drive droplet transport on a solid surface.

Considerable efforts had been devoted to investigating numerically the droplet impact dynamics on a superhydrophobic surface. Whereas most of these numerical simulations were restricted to the two-dimension (2-D) axisymmetric coordinate system with the one-dimension (1-D) substrate surface. In this work, a three-dimension (3-D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model, which intergrew a 2-D random rough surface, was proposed to investigate the droplet impact dynamics, and the multi-phase flow issue was solved by the Navier-Stokes equations. It is remarkable that the 3-D CFD model revealed several significant dynamic details that were not easily captured in a 2-D axisymmetric coordinate system or practical experiments. For instance, the 3-D CFD model provided a unique perspective to understand the varying dynamic behaviors of impinged droplet in terms of the velocity streamline and dynamic viscosity analyses. Herein, the dynamic viscosity diagram revealed that the sprawl droplet on the 2-D random rough surface was classified as Cassie state, while as Wenzel state for smooth surface, which also explained the better bouncing behaviors of droplet from the random rough surface. Accordingly, we suggested a visual way to evaluate the solid-liquid contact area surrounded by the triple-phase contact line. The effects of finger protrusion and central cavity growth from the sprawl droplet on the vortex generation were further analyzed on the ground of the velocity amplitude distribution and streamline data. The present work can provide early guidance to inquire into the impact dynamics of droplets on the random rough surface.

In this study, chopped natural bamboo fibers were successfully added in the benzoxazine matrix by the hot-pressing method to fabricate environmentally friendly bio-composite. The mechanical behaviors and failure mechanisms of neat benzoxazine matrix and its bamboo fiber composite under different tensile strain rates (quasi-static, 35/s and 110/s) were comparatively investigated using SHTB device (split-Hopkinson tensile bar), high-speed camera, DIC method (digital image correlation), and SEM observation (scanning electron microscopy). The results showed the composite exhibited 30.02% and 25.21% higher strength than that of neat benzoxazine under strain rates of 35/s and 110/s, respectively. However, under quasi-static tensile loading, the tensile strength of the composite was not higher than that of neat benzoxazine. The SEM and high-speed camera images showed the bamboo fibers displayed different reinforcing mechanisms under different strain rates. The chopped bamboo fibers could strengthen the composite effectively under dynamic tensile loadings. However, under quasi-static loading, the tensile strength of the composite was largely determined by the potential defects (such as small bubbles, pores, and fiber agglomerations) in the composite.