Dynamic and reversible electrowetting with low voltage on the dimethicone infused carbon nanotube array in air |
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| Institution: | 1. Research Institute for Biomimetics and Soft Matter, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for Soft Functional Materials Research, Jiujiang Research Institute, College of Physical Science and Technology, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China;2. State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China;1. State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China;2. Research Institute for Soft Matter and Biomimetics, College of Physical Science and Technology, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China;3. State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China;4. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China;1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing 312000, China;2. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China;1. State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China;2. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China;3. Department of Environmental Engineering, Harbin University of Commerce, Harbin 150076, China;4. School of Ecology and Environment, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450000, China;1. Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Pen-Tung Sah Institute of Micro-Nano Science and Technology, State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surface, College of Physical Science and Technology, Research Institute for Biomimetics and Soft Matter, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for Soft Functional Materials Research, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China;2. Key Laboratory for Biomechanics and Mechanobiology of the Ministry of Education, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China;3. Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China;4. College of Physical Science and Technology, Research Institute for Biomimetics and Soft Matter, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for Soft Functional Materials Research, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China;1. State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China;2. Research Center of Engineering Thermophysics, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China;3. Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan;4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tang, Hong Kong |
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| Abstract: | Unremitting efforts have been intensively making for pursuing the goal of the reversible transition of electrowetting owing to its vital importance to many practical applications, but which remains a major challenge for carbon nanotubes due to the irreversible electrochemical damage. Herein, we proposed a subtly method to prevent the CNT array from electrochemical damage by using liquid medium instead of air medium to form a liquid/liquid/solid triphase system. The dimethicone dynamically refills in CNT arrays after removing of voltage that makes the surface back to hydrophobic, which is an elegant way to not only decrease energy dissipation in electrowetting process but also obtain extra energy in reversible dewetting process. Repeated cycles of in situ experiments showed that more than four reversible electrowetting cycles could be achieved in air. It worth mention that the in situ reversible electrowetting voltage of the dimethicone infused CNT array has been lowered to 2 V from 7 V which is the electrowetting voltage for the pure CNT array. The surface of the dimethicone infused CNT array can maintain hydrophobicity with a contact angle of 145.6° after four cycles, compared with 148.1° of the initial state. Moreover, a novel perspective of theoretical simulations through the binding energy has been provided which proved that the charged CNTs preferred binding with water molecules thereby replacing the dimethicone molecules adsorbed on the CNTs, whereas reconnected with dimethicone after removing the charges. Our study provides distinct insight into dynamic reversible electrowetting on the nanostructured surface in air and supplies a way for precise control of wettability in surface chemistry, smart phase-change heat transfer enhancement, liquid lenses, microfluidics, and other chemical engineering applications. |
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| Keywords: | Carbon nanotube array Electrowetting Reversible Dynamic Low voltage |
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