Characterisation of surface wettability based on nanoparticles

Abstract

Nanoparticles are becoming frequently used in the research area of creating functional surfaces because they can be more versatile than just making dimensions smaller. Particularly, a variety of nanoparticles have been applied for the construction of superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic surfaces with micro- and nano-scaled structures. As nanoparticles can also be fashioned and modified, their effects will be of great importance to the formed surface structures. In the present paper, we review the recent research progress in the utilization of nanoparticles to form extremely wettable/non-wettable surface structures and their influence on surface wettability. This report manifests an apparent inclination of nanoparticle structured surfaces using the multidisciplinary approaches, from the viewpoint of engineer/scientist. Therefore, the typical methodologies with regard to the use of nanoparticles, including the preparation and functionalisation processes, for the realization of surface wettabilities are discussed in this work. The discussions also represent some of the size-determined phenomena that are related to wettable/non-wettable surfaces. This Review thus provides an insight into the connection between nanoparticles and surface wettability.

Review on the Processing and Properties of Polymer Nanocomposites and Nanocoatings and Their Applications in the Packaging, Automotive and Solar Energy Fields

“…The surface roughness should have a hierarchical structure at the micro- and nano-scale, which for lotus leaves are built by convex cells and a much smaller super-imposed layer of hydrophobic three-dimensional wax tubules [222] and in the case of elephant ear arise from micro-bumps formed by convex surface papillae and low surface energy resulting from the formation of a crystalline wax film [223]. It is well known that those micro- and nano-scaled surface structures are of critical importance to the surface water repellence, so the use of nanoparticles is one easily accessible alternative to mimic the multilayered structures of the natural prototypes of non-wettable surfaces [224]. Different nanoparticle composites based on SiO 2 , TiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , Fe 2 O 3 and Au have been used.…”

Iron oxide nanoparticles for magnetically assisted patterned coatings

“…Current development in nanotechnology brought a possible solution. Among the various approaches for creating surfaces with hierarchical roughness, nanoparticle assembly is known to be facile and cost effective [7], but relatively difficult to control due to the nature of the particle interactions (mainly van der Waals forces) [8]. In order to improve the process control level, we propose the use of magnetic field assisted nanoparticle aggregation.…”

Hydrophobic cotton textile surfaces using an amphiphilic graphene oxide (GO) coating

“…been exploited to achieve hydrophobicity on surfaces using two different approaches; lowering the surface free energy or altering the surface roughens [4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Achieving hydrophobicity on cotton textile surfaces using these two mechanisms has been widely reported [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20].…”