Dropwise condensation: From fundamentals of wetting, nucleation, and droplet mobility to performance improvement by advanced functional surfaces

Zheng, Shao-Fei; Groß, Ulrich; Wang, Xiaodong

doi:10.1016/j.cis.2021.102503

Cited by 45 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 180 publications

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“…During the 5 h water collection period, a linear relationship between the collection weight of water and collection time is observed for the Ag/MSN 10−1 surface (Figure 3c). More importantly, its dropwise fog capture behavior, which has been reported to be beneficial for water collection, 28,29 is retained after the 5 h collection (Figure S5a). In contrast, the water collection efficiency of the Ag/SSN 10−1 surface decreases after the 3 h collection (Figure 3d).…”

Section: ■ Results and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Efficient Water Harvesting Enabled by Porous Architecture-Containing Hybrid Surfaces

Zhu

Feng

Liang

et al. 2022

Ind. Eng. Chem. Res.

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Recent focuses in atmospheric water harvesting technology have moved to developing superwettable surfaces; however, optimizing the trade-off between fog capture and water transport remains difficult. Here, considering the positive effect of porous structures on water absorbance, we propose, for the first time, the use of mesoporous silica nanospheres (MSNs) and Ag nanoparticles (NPs) in constructing hybrid surfaces. Moreover, a selectively hydrophobic modification of Ag domains endows superhydrophilic/superhydrophobic patterns. Notably, in contrast to patterned surfaces completely constructed with smooth NPs, the porous architecture-containing surfaces display fast droplet removal and high dripping frequency. Under a moderate ratio between the superhydrophilic porous domain and superhydrophobic smooth domain, the water collection efficiency can achieve 1079.73 mg cm −2 h −1 , and long-term stable collection performance is realized for at least 15 cycles. The surface design paves the foundation for fabricating high-performance water collection materials.

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Section: ■ Results and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Efficient Water Harvesting Enabled by Porous Architecture-Containing Hybrid Surfaces

Zhu

Feng

Liang

et al. 2022

Ind. Eng. Chem. Res.

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“…As a highly efficient heat transfer mode, dropwise condensation presents great application potential in heat exchange and energy conversion fields, such as water desalination, power generation, and electronic thermal management. 1,2 Since its first report, 3 extensive studies have been devoted to understanding the mechanism of dropwise condensation and enhancing condensation heat transfer. 1,2,4 Nonwetting surfaces that enable the condensation droplet to be removed rapidly play a crucial role in achieving highly efficient condensation heat transfer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In recent years, various nonwetting surfaces, thanks to the development in regulating surface micro/ nanostructures and chemistry, have attracted explosive attention and led to significant heat transfer enhancement. 1,2,4 The practical condensation system usually suffers from the influence of non-condensable gas (NCG), which plays a crucial role in dropwise condensation. 2 The influence of NCG on the heat transfer performance of dropwise condensation has been continuously explored by experiments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The boundary layer results in a diffusion resistance for water vapor, accompanied by a temperature drop between the environment and the interface. 2,10,11 As a result, the coupled heat transfer and diffusion mass transfer govern the direct condensation over the droplet surface. On the other hand, dropwise condensation can be seen as a complicated spatio-temporal dynamic equilibrium process with a series of time-and space-dependent subprocesses occurring periodically.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, numerical simulation for dropwise condensation still remains a great challenge. 2 This can be attributed to its strong coupling characteristics, involving multiphase flow, phase change, and moving interface, as well as the coupled heat and mass transfer at the interface. The conventional CFD method in handling such cases becomes particularly complicated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Asymmetric Condensation Characteristics during Dropwise Condensation in the Presence of Non-condensable Gas: A Lattice Boltzmann Study

Zheng

Gao

et al. 2022

Langmuir

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In this work, the condensation characteristics of droplets considering the non-condensable gas with different interaction effects are numerically studied utilizing a multicomponent multiphase thermal lattice Boltzmann (LB) model, with a special focus on the asymmetric nature induced by the interaction effect. The results demonstrate that for isolated-like growth with negligible interactions, the condensation characteristics, that is, the concentration profile, the temperature distribution, and the flow pattern, are typically symmetric in nature. For the growth regime in a pattern, the droplet has to compete with its neighbors for catching vapor, which leads to an overlapping concentration profile (namely the interaction effect). The distribution of the condensation flux on the droplet surface is consequently modified, which contributes to the asymmetric flow pattern and temperature profile. The condensation characteristics for droplet growth in a pattern present an asymmetric nature. Significantly, the asymmetric condensation flux resulting from the interaction effect can induce droplet motion. The results further demonstrate that the interaction strongly depends on the droplet's spatial and size distribution, including two crucial parameters, namely the inter-distance and relative size of droplets. The asymmetric condensation characteristics are consequently dependent on the difference in the interaction intensities on both sides of the droplet. Finally, we demonstrate numerically and theoretically that the evolution of the droplet radius versus time can be suitably described by a power law; the corresponding exponent is kept at a constant of 0.50 for isolated-like growth and is strongly sensitive to the interaction effect for the growth in a pattern.

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A Multiscale Strategy for Constructing Finned Microporous Superhydrophobic Surface for Highly‐Efficient Condensation Heat Transfer Enhancement Enabled by Lifespan Regulation of Droplets

Zhang

Fan

2023

Adv Funct Materials

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Spontaneous droplet jumping on micro‐/nano‐structured superhydrophobic surfaces has been exploited as an efficient means for enhancing steam condensation heat transfer. However, the good performance of such surfaces quickly decays with raising the degree of subcooling, due to the mismatch between the characteristic length scales and droplet sizes when they grow up. Herein, a novel strategy for multiscale droplet regulation is proposed by combining sub‐millimeter fin structure with a hierarchical microporous superhydrophobic surface. A superior condensation heat transfer performance is attained on such hierarchical superhydrophobic finned tube (F‐SHB), in comparison to the baseline case of superhydrophobic non‐finned (SHB) tube under well‐controlled test conditions. Although the droplet jumping is not as vigorous as that on the SHB tube, the finned geometry of the F‐SHB tube leads to a condensation heat transfer enhancement even under high degrees of subcooling up to 36 K, because of the accelerated departure of large droplets by imposing Laplace force gradient in the presence of V‐shaped sub‐millimeter fins. This multiscale enhancement strategy is shown to enable a cascading regulation over the entire lifespan of condensate droplets. The fabrication of F‐SHB tubes is facile and easy to be scaled up, showing great potential in practical steam condensation applications.

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Dropwise condensation: From fundamentals of wetting, nucleation, and droplet mobility to performance improvement by advanced functional surfaces

Cited by 45 publications

References 180 publications

Efficient Water Harvesting Enabled by Porous Architecture-Containing Hybrid Surfaces

Efficient Water Harvesting Enabled by Porous Architecture-Containing Hybrid Surfaces

Asymmetric Condensation Characteristics during Dropwise Condensation in the Presence of Non-condensable Gas: A Lattice Boltzmann Study

A Multiscale Strategy for Constructing Finned Microporous Superhydrophobic Surface for Highly‐Efficient Condensation Heat Transfer Enhancement Enabled by Lifespan Regulation of Droplets

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