Understanding the high water adhesion of rose petals
is of great
significance in artificial surface design. With all-atom molecular
dynamics simulation, the wettability of nanoscale wrinkles was explored
and compared to that of nanoscale strips with favorable hydrophobicity.
The dewetting and wetting of gaps between nanoscale structures represent
the Cassie–Baxter (CB) and Wenzel (WZ) states of the macroscopic
droplet deposited on the textured surface, respectively. We uncovered
the intermediate state, which is different from the CB and WZ states
for wrinkles. Structures and free-energy profiles of metastable and
transition states under various pressures were also investigated.
Moreover, free-energy barriers for the (de)wetting transitions were
quantified. On this basis, the roles of pressure and the unique structures
of nanoscale wrinkles in the high water adhesion of rose petals were
identified.
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