Collective wetting transitions of submerged gas-entrapping microtextured surfaces

Abstract

Numerous natural and industrial processes entail the spontaneous entrapment of gas/air as rough/patterned surfaces are submerged under water. As the wetting transitions ensue, the gas diffuses into the water leading to the fully water-filled state. However, the standard models for wetting do not account for the microtexture’s topography on collective wetting transitions. In other words, it is not clear whether the lifetime of n cavities arranged in a one-dimensional (I-D) line or a two-dimensional (II-D) (circular or square) lattice would be the same or not as a single 0-D cavity. In response, we tracked the time-dependent fates of gas pockets trapped in I-D and II-D lattices and compared them with wetting transitions in commensurate 0-D cavities. Interestingly, the collective wetting transitions in the I-D and the II-D arrays had a directionality such that the gas from the outermost cavities was lost the first, while the innermost got filled by water the last. In essence, microtexture’s spatial organization afforded shielding to the loss of the gas from the innermost cavities, which we probed as a function of the microtexture’s pitch, surface density, dimensionality, and hydrostatic pressure. These findings advance our knowledge of wetting transitions in microtextures and inspiring surface textures to protect electronic devices against liquid ingression.

References

[1] Lohse D. Bubble puzzles: from fundamentals to applications. Phys Rev Fluids. 2018;3:110504.

[2] Flynn MR, Bush JW. Underwater breathing: the mechanics of plastron respiration. J Fluid Mech. 2008;608:275-296.

[3] Yu Q, Xiong R, Li C, Pecht MG. Water-resistant smartphone technologies. IEEE Access. 2019;7:42757-42773.

[4] Lindner JR. Microbubbles in medical imaging: current applications and future directions. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2004;3:527-533.

[5] Vincent O. Negative pressure and cavitation dynamics in plant-like structures. In: K Jensen, Y Forterre, eds. Soft Matter in Plants: From Biophysics to Biomimetics. Royal Society of Chemistry;2022:119.

[6] Forsberg U, Jonsson P, Stegmayr B. Microemboli induced by air bubbles may be deposited in organs as a consequence of contamination during medical care. Clin Kidney J. 2023;16:159-166.

[7] Epstein PS, Plesset MS. On the stability of gas bubbles in liquid-gas solutions. J Chem Phys. 1950;18:1505-1509.

[8] Penas-Lopez P, Parrales MA, Rodriguez-Rodriguez J. Dissolution of a CO₂ spherical cap bubble adhered to a flat surface in air-saturated water. J Fluid Mech. 2015;775:53-76.

[9] Michelin S, Guérin E, Lauga E. Collective dissolution of microbubbles. Phys Rev Fluids. 2018;3:043601.

[10] Zhu X, Verzicco R, Zhang X, Lohse D. Diffusive interaction of multiple surface nanobubbles: shrinkage, growth, and coarsening. Soft Matter. 2018;14:2006-2014.

[11] Lohse D, Zhang X. Physicochemical hydrodynamics of droplets out of equilibrium. Nat Rev Phys. 2020;2:426-443.

[12] Peng S, Mega TL, Zhang X. Collective effects in microbubble growth by solvent exchange. Langmuir. 2016;32:11265-11272.

[13] Lhuissier H, Lohse D, Zhang X. Spatial organization of surface nanobubbles and its implications in their formation process. Soft Matter. 2014;10:942-946.

[14] Arunachalam S, Das R, Nauruzbayeva J, Domingues EM, Mishra H. Assessing omniphobicity by immersion. J Colloid Interface Sci. 2019;534:156-162.

[15] Domingues EM, Arunachalam S, Mishra H. Doubly reentrant cavities prevent catastrophic wetting transitions on intrinsically wetting surfaces. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2017;9:21532-21538.

[16] Domingues EM, Arunachalam S, Nauruzbayeva J, Mishra H. Biomimetic coating-free surfaces for long-term entrapment of air under wetting liquids. Nat Commun. 2018;9:3606.

[17] Arunachalam S, Domingues EM, Das R, et al. Rendering SiO₂/Si surfaces omniphobic by carving gas-entrapping microtextures comprising reentrant and doubly reentrant cavities or pillars. J Vis Exp. 2020:e60403.

[18] Xiang Y, Huang S, Lv P, Xue Y, Su Q, Duan H. Ultimate stable underwater superhydrophobic state. Phys Rev Lett. 2017;119:134501.

[19] Bourgoun A, Ling H. A general model for the longevity of super-hydrophobic surfaces in under-saturated, stationary liquid. J Heat Transfer. 2022;144:042101.

[20] Bao L, Spandan V, Yang Y, et al. Flow-induced dissolution of femtoliter surface droplet arrays. Lab Chip. 2018;18:1066-1074.

[21] Iqtidar A, Kilbride JJ, Ouali FF, Fairhurst DJ, Stone HA, Masoud H. Drying dynamics of sessile-droplet arrays. Phys Rev Fluids. 2023;8:013602.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2024 The Author(s). Droplet published by Jilin University and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.