Electrowetting: Electrocapillarity, saturation, and dynamics

Electrowetting is an electrocapillary phenomenon, i.e. the surface charge generated at the solid-liquid interface through an external voltage improves the wettability in the system. The Young-Lippmann equation provides the simplest thermodynamic framework and describes electrowetting adequately. Saturation, i.e. the reduced or nullified effectiveness of the external voltage below a threshold contact angle value, was and remains the most controversial issue in the physics of electrowetting. A simple estimation of the limits of validity of the Young model is obtained by setting the solid-liquid interfacial tension to zero. This approach predicts acceptably the change in electrowetting mechanism but not the minimal value of the contact angle achievable during electrowetting. The mechanism of saturation is, in all probability, related to charge injection into the dielectric layer insulating the working electrode but physical details are scarce. Surface force and spectroscopic techniques should be deployed in order to improve our understanding of the surface charging of insulators immersed in conductive liquids. Electrowetting in solid-liquid-liquid systems is generally more effective and robust. Electrowetting offers new ways of studying the dynamics of liquid movement as it allows selective changes in the wettability of the system.     

Spatial macroscopic structure of a pulsed microsecond discharge in barrier-metal gaps with a nonuniform electric field distribution

Electric and spatial characteristics of a pulse-periodic microsecond barrier discharge are investigated in different geometries—triangular prism, plate, and corrugated electrode—that are in contact with a dielectric plate and form a dihedral angle with it. It is established that, in the space of the dihedral angle, the regions of discharge represent alternating cylindrical layers with the axes lying on the contact line. The first conducting layer is formed at some distance from the contact edge of the electrode. The number of layers and their localization are determined by the angle formed between an electrode and the dielectric plate. A physical model explaining the main features of the structure formation is proposed.     

脉动热管的接触角滞后和毛细滞后阻力

脉动热管通常采用毛细管制造,液塞在运动过程中前进接触角和后退接触角随着管径、管长、充液量、传热量和工质的选择会有很大的不同,存在着毛细滞后效应的影响。本文对毛细管中单个液塞在运动过程中两个接触角和毛细滞后阻力进行了分析。结果表明,接触角滞后对于上述参数变化比较敏感,接触角滞后对于运行是不利的.可以通过毛细管的选取、工质的选择和充液率的改变等来消除毛细滞后的影响。得到的结果对于进一步完善脉动热管的物理模型有重要参考价值。     

The Relevance of Powder/Liquid Wettability to the Cohesiveness of Carbon Black Agglomerates

Particle size enlargement operations often involve the use of a liquid to improve powder cohesiveness. Capillary suction and surface tension forces acting through liquid menisci between particles are the primary source of the cohesive bonding. The strength of these forces, and consequently the strength of the wet agglomerate, is dependent upon the total liquid content, its distribution within the agglomerate, and the powder wettability (characterized by the liquid surface tension and powder/liquid contact angle). The tensile strength of powder compacts containing submicron carbon black particles has been measured as a function of saturation level for several liquids. It is found that the compact strength increases with increasing surface tension for liquids that exhibit a zero contact angle. Above the critical surface tension for wetting a more complicated situation exists where both the surface tension and contact angle are important.     

Limiting phenomena for the spreading of water on polymer films by electrowetting

This paper is about fundamental limitations in electrowetting, used as a tool for spreading water solutions on hydrophobic surfaces, like the surface of a polymer film. Up to which point can an electric voltage decrease the contact angle? The first limitation comes when using pure water, above a threshold voltage, little droplets are emitted at the perimeter of the mother drop. We present an analysis of the drop contour line stability, involving competition between electrostatic and capillary forces, which is compatible with observations. The use of salted water solutions suppresses this instability, then one faces a second limitation: the evolution of the contact angle saturates before complete wetting. We show that this saturation is caused by ionisation of the air in the vicinity of the drop edge. We analyse the luminescence induced by gas ionization and measure the related electrical discharges. We explain how air ionization suppresses the driving force for electrowetting and how it induces the formation of an hydrophillic ring around the drop.     

容器内角处流体界面特性与Surface Evolver程序适用性的研究

微重力条件下内角处液体行为的研究对于认识表面张力主导的液体行为, 预测和控制空间微重力条件下的液体位置、瞬时状态, 以及对空间流体进行有效的管理等方面都非常重要. 通过分析接触角与流体界面在容器内角处的接触线方向之间的关系, 并与Concus-Finn理论进行比较, 提出了内角处接触线、接触角和几何形状之间相互关联的机理, 并探讨了Concus和Finn等 的相关理论结果的物理内涵. 在此基础上, 进一步将内角处的相关理论结果与Surface Evolver程序得出的数值结果进行了比较, 指出当容器中的内角小于180°时, Surface Evolver程序通过自动划分网格即可比较准确地预言内角处的接触线和液面行为, 但是当内角大于180°时, 自动划分网格得到的数值结果有较大的误差, 需要通过手动划分网格减少网格奇异才能减小误差. 因此, 对于具有复杂几何形状的容器, 需注意网格的奇异性, 并对内角处的液面进行定量的验证, 才能有效判断Surface Evolver程序结果的正确性. 本工作对于深入认识内角处的液面特性和机理, 理解Surface Evolver程序的适用条件, 以及分析微重力条件下容器内角处的液体行为等方面都具有明显意义.     

Formation of hydrophobic coating on PMMA surface using unipolar nanosecond-pulse DBD in atmospheric air

Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) can modify the material surface and result in complicated physical and chemical reactions to improve the surface hydrophilicity, which is proved to be an effective method for surface modification. Compared with the traditional ac-excitation DBD, the DBD using unipolar pulses can avoid local overheat of microdischarges and can improve discharge efficiency under some conditions. In this paper, DBD excited by repetitive unipolar nanosecond generator was used to improve the hydrophobicity of Plexiglass (PMMA) surface by means of the interaction between air plasma and silicone oil. The output voltage had a rise time of 40 ns and a full width at half maximum of about 70 ns. The surface hydrophobicity of the PMMA, before and after the surface modification, was evaluated via the contact angle measurement under different experimental conditions. The values of the contact angle shown in this paper were the average of eight measured values, and the standard deviations were also calculated. The surface energy including polar and dispersion components was calculated using the measured average contact angles of distilled water and polyethyleneglycol. The results showed that, as the increase of the discharge voltage, the contact angle increased but the surface energy decreased. With the increase of treatment time, the water contact angle of the modified surface increased at the beginning, and it would reach to a maximum at 7.5 min treatment, and then decreased. The effect of pulse frequency on the modification results was different at various treatment times. In addition, the possible physical and chemical reaction among the DBD plasma, silicone oil and the PMMA surface was discussed.     

冷凝器壁面滴状冷凝的热力学机理及最佳接触角

应用自由能判据证明了冷凝器壁面液滴的力学平衡条件与接触角有关,进而证明了当壁面液滴与壁面的接触大于90°时,冷凝器壁面液滴的化学势将小于同曲率的球形液滴的化学势;另外,在相同饱和比下,壁面液滴的临界半径也小于球形液滴的临界半径.而在接触角小于90°时,情况则恰好相反.正是由于这双重原因,使得滴状冷凝的传热性能大大优于膜状冷凝的传热性能,并由此求出了冷凝器壁面液滴的最佳接触角. 关键词：     

Energetic study of ultrasonic wettability enhancement

Many industrial and biological interfacial processes, such as welding and breathing depend directly on wettability and surface tension phenomena. The most common methods to control the wettability are based on modifying the properties of the fluid or the substrate. The present work focuses on the use of high-frequency acoustic waves (ultrasound) for the same purpose. It is well known that ultrasound can effectively clean a surface by acoustic cavitation, hence ultrasonic cleaning technology. Besides the cleaning process itself, many authors have observed an important wettability enhancement when liquids are exposed to low and high (ultrasonic) frequency vibration. Ultrasound goes one step further as it can instantly adjust the contact angle by tuning the vibration amplitude, but there is still a lack of comprehension about the physical principles that explain this phenomenon. To shed light on it, a thermodynamic model describing how ultrasound decreases the contact angle in a three-phase wetting system has been developed. Moreover, an analytical and experimental research has been carried out in order to demonstrate that ultrasound is an important competitor to surfactants in terms of energy efficiency and environmental friendliness.     

接触角滞后现象的理论分析

在本文的研究中，考虑表面粗糙的影响，通过引入附加“磨擦力”的概念，分别用力学方法和热力学方法导出固体表面上液滴平衡时接触角应满足的条件；并得到了液滴系统自由能－固液接触面积曲线；分析了前进接触角和后退接触角的物理意义；由此给出了接触角滞后现象的一种合理解释．这对于进一步认识接触角的滞后现象，无疑是有积极意义的．     

纳观接触角的确定方法

对纳观接触角的确定曾有过许多研究工作, 本文对各种理论进行分析评论, 指出其各自的优缺点甚至错误, 认为最为简单实用的理论是朱如曾于1995年在《大学物理》((Vol. 14(2))) 的文章中对前人的宏观接触角的错误理论采用澄清接触角概念的方法所得到的纳观接触角的近似理论及近似公式α = (1-2E_PS/E_PL)π (其中E_PL和E_PS分别表示液体内部一个液体分子的势能和固体表面一个液态分子与固体的相互作用势能, 并可用分子动力学(MD) 模拟得到), 此理论属于纳观接触角的分子动力学理论的近似简化形式, 值得进一步发展. 为此, 本文根据物理分析假设Gibbs张力表面上位于非三相接触区的一个液体分子的势能为E_PL/2x, 三相接触线上一个液体分子与其余液体的相互作用势能为(1+kE_PS/E_PL)α E_PL/2xπ, 其中x和k 为优化参数. 根据Gibbs分界面上处处势能相等条件, 得到改进的纳观接触角的近似公式α = π({1-2xE_PS/E_PL)/(1+kE_PS/E_PL)．对固体表面的氩纳米液柱, 在温度90K下对液体分子之间采用林纳德－琼斯(L-J) 势, 液体分子与固体原子间采用带有可变强度参数a的 L-J 势, 对0.650< a <0.825 范围内的8种a值进行了MD模拟．得到了相应的Gibbs 张力面．将其纳观底角视为近似纳观接触角, 结合物理条件(当E_PS/E_PL=0时, α = π)用最小二乘法得到优化参数值x=0.7141, k=1.6051和相关系数0.9997. 这一充分接近于1的相关系数表明, 对于不同相互作用强度的纳米液固接触系统, 优化参数x和k确实可近似视为常数, 由此确认我们提出的利用MD模拟来确定纳观接触角近似公式中优化参数的可行性和该近似公式的一般适用性.     

Electrowetting with electrolytes

A theory of electrowetting is developed for systems containing an interface between two immiscible electrolytic solutions. Laws for the dependence of contact angle on electrode potential are presented. Ionic impermeability of the liquid-liquid interface and nonlinear double-layer responses rationalize observed phenomena such as contact-angle saturation and droplet contraction or detachment. The theoretical results can be applied to design new, precisely controllable microfluidic devices.     

非胶结含水合物沉积物修正等效介质速度模型及其地震波场特征研究

通过数值分析,发现对应于悬浮模式、颗粒接触模式的等效介质模型A,B预测的含水合物沉积物纵波速度、横波速度及泊松比存在物理认识上的缺陷,单独考虑水合物微观模式为悬浮模式或颗粒接触模式并不合理.认为非胶结水合物的微观模式与其饱和度存在关联,并运用拉格朗日插值方法建立了新的非胶结含水合物沉积物修正等效介质速度模型.该模型体现了水合物饱和度对于水合物微观模式的影响,数值分析结果表明新模型预测结果更合理.基于新模型对非胶结含水合物沉积物的地震波场进行了数值模拟,探讨了似海底反射及空白带的形成机理,对实际水合物地震勘 关键词： 水合物 等效介质模型 似海底反射 空白带     

A new model for thermodynamic analysis on wetting behavior of superhydrophobic surfaces

Superhydrophobic surfaces have shown inspiring applications in microfluidics, and self-cleaning coatings owing to water-repellent and low-friction properties. However, thermodynamic mechanism responsible for contact angle hysteresis (CAH) and free energy barrier (FEB) have not been understood completely yet. In this work, we propose an intuitional 3-dimension (3D) droplet model along with a reasonable thermodynamic approach to gain a thorough insight into the physical nature of CAH. Based on this model, the relationships between radius of three-phase contact line, change in surface free energy (CFE), average or local FEB and contact angle (CA) are established. Moreover, a thorough theoretical consideration is given to explain the experimental phenomena related to the superhydrophobic behavior. The present study can therefore provide some guidances for the practical fabrications of the superhydrophobic surfaces.     

The debate on the dependence of apparent contact angles on drop contact area or three-phase contact line: A review

A sessile drop is an isolated drop which has been deposited on a solid substrate where the wetted area is limited by the three-phase contact line and characterized by contact angle, contact radius and drop height. Although, wetting has been studied using contact angles of drops on solids for more than 200 years, the question remains unanswered: Is wetting of a rough and chemically heterogeneous surface controlled by the interactions within the solid/liquid contact area beneath the droplet or only at the three-phase contact line? After the publications of Pease in 1945, Extrand in 1997, 2003 and Gao and McCarthy in 2007 and 2009, it was proposed that advancing, receding contact angles, and contact angle hysteresis of rough and chemically heterogeneous surfaces are determined by interactions of the liquid and the solid at the three-phase contact line alone and the interfacial area within the contact perimeter is irrelevant. As a consequence of this statement, the well-known Wenzel (1934) and Cassie (1945) equations which were derived using the contact area approach are proposed to be invalid and should be abandoned. A hot debate started in the field of surface science after 2007, between the three-phase contact line and interfacial contact area approach defenders. This paper presents a review of the published articles on contact angles and summarizes the views of the both sides. After presenting a brief history of the contact angles and their measurement methods, we discussed the basic contact angle theory and applications of contact angles on the characterization of flat, rough and micropatterned superhydrophobic surfaces. The weak and strong sides of both three-phase contact line and contact area approaches were discussed in detail and some practical conclusions were drawn.     

Thoughts on some outstanding issues in the physics of equilibrium wetting and conceptual understanding of contact lines

Equilibrium wetting is a fundamental phenomenon, relevant to many scientific areas. Since the pioneering work on equilibrium wetting of Thomas Young (1805) [1], researchers strived to advance our understanding of this fundamental problem. Despite its apparent simplicity, equilibrium wetting phenomenon still holds many unanswered questions and represents a challenge to modern physicists and engineers. The relationship between quantities amenable to measurements, like macroscopic wetting contact angle, and other surface ener- gies and physical properties remains to be fully elucidated. Wetting is a physical problem which spans over two length scales, inner region (“microscopic”) length scale and outer region (“macroscopic”). The three-phase contact line, where the macroscopic region meets the micro- scopic one, and underlying surface forces, represents a challenge to fully understand and model. In this paper, a brief review of the basics of wetting and existing concepts is first presented. Then two important questions are discussed in the light of the latest experimental findings: first the relevance of the continuum concept when describing interfaces near the three-phase contact line, and second the effect of adsorption on interfacial energies and its use to explain some interesting observations like the dependence of equilibrium contact angle on pressure and size of droplets. These recent observations raise some fundamental questions about how the three-phase contact line is conceptualised.     

疏水表面减阻的格子Boltzmann方法数值模拟

采用格子Boltzmann方法的多松弛模型和Shan-Chen多相流模型对雷诺数为100的疏水表面方柱绕流进行了数值模拟, 分析了疏水表面接触角和来流含气率对方柱绕流流场的影响. 研究结果表明: 疏水表面接触角一定时, 来流含气率在一定范围内, 疏水表面具有减阻的能力, 超出这一范围时会出现阻力系数、升力系数升高的现象, 同时在方柱近壁面处伴随涡的形成产生了气团脱落; 当来流含气率处于适当水平时, 接触角越大, 绕流物体近壁面处含气率越稳定, 减阻效果越明显. 分析发现疏水表面减阻的关键在于保证近壁面处气层的稳定性, 此时接触角越大, 减阻效果越明显. 本文从含气率角度出发分析疏水表面的减阻现象, 为进一步探索疏水表面减阻机理提出了新的思路.     

光纤连接器端面几何参量自动测量仪

报道了一种高精度测量光纤连接器端面几何参量的自动测量仪。叙述了光纤连接器的端面几何参量的测量原理。由光纤连接器端面形貌和纤芯中心坐标,可以高精度得到曲率半径、顶点偏移量、端面倾斜角和光纤高度等影响连接器性能的关键端面几何参量。该仪器体积小,自动化程度高,用户界面友好,使用方便,可测量物理接触、角度式物理接触等类型的光纤连接器端面几何参量。实际测量证明,该测量仪有很好的重复测量精度。该测量仪与美国Dorc公司ZX-1 mini PMS测量仪和Norland公司NC3000测量仪相比,测量精度水平相当。该仪器样机已通过华东国家计量测试中心的测试。     

Boundary conditions in the vicinity of a dynamic contact line: experimental investigation of viscous drops sliding down an inclined plane

To probe the microscopic balance of forces close to a moving contact line, the boundary conditions around viscous drops sliding down an inclined plane are investigated. At first, the variation of the contact angle as a function of the scale of analysis is discussed. The dynamic contact angle is measured at a scale of 6 mum all around sliding drops for different volumes and speeds. We show that it depends only on the capillary number based on the local liquid velocity, measured by particle tracking. This velocity turns out to be normal to the contact line everywhere. It indirectly proves that, in comparison with the divergence involved in the normal direction, the viscous stress is not balanced by intermolecular forces in the direction tangential to the contact line, so that any motion in this last direction gets damped.     

Contact angles in controlled atmospheres: Some theoretical considerations

Contact angle measurements in controlled atmospheres must take into account the effect of residual gas molecules in the less-than-perfect vacuum that is encountered experimentally and of the gas molecules formed by vaporization of the liquid component. The possibility of measuring the contact angle of a non-vaporizing liquid has been considered. In an experiment with a low-melting lead bismuth alloy on glass, the contact angle at 142°C was 136°. Calculations based on the Fowkes theory of dispersion forces indicate that the contact angle should not exceed 141°. In contrast to the reasonable agreement with the Fowkes theory, the observed angle is lower than would be expected from the Yarnold-Mason theory as it would apply to a competition between residual gas molecules and metal atoms for the solid surface and the effect of this competition on the contact angle. Finally, the theory of works of adhesion and cohesion is applied to the known variability of the hydrophilicity of graphite surfaces. The known reactivity of adsorbed water with graphite makes it impossible to apply an exact theory, but a limiting value of 53 % hydrophilic surface is indicated for graphite at room temperature.