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.     

核态沸腾中汽泡动力学及传热机理分析

汽泡的传热及生长特性研究对于揭示核态沸腾的机理具有重要作用。本文介绍了利用高速摄像技术对核态沸腾中汽泡生长及运动现象进行实验观测,并用高速数据采集系统记录汽泡一个生长周期不同阶段的热流密度的方法。在不同的过冷度及壁面温度条件下,观测了汽泡的生长、周期性滑移、颈化和脱离现象。计算并绘制出不同条件下一个汽泡生长周期内的热流密度曲线,与汽泡图片相对应,分析并讨论了造成这些现象的机理。     

Effect of Ion and Binding Site on the Conformation of Chosen Glycosaminoglycans at the Albumin Surface

Albumin is one of the major components of synovial fluid. Due to its negative surface charge, it plays an essential role in many physiological processes, including the ability to form molecular complexes. In addition, glycosaminoglycans such as hyaluronic acid and chondroitin sulfate are crucial components of synovial fluid involved in the boundary lubrication regime. This study presents the influence of Na+, Mg2+ and Ca2+ ions on human serum albumin–hyaluronan/chondroitin-6-sulfate interactions examined using molecular docking followed by molecular dynamics simulations. We analyze chosen glycosaminoglycans binding by employing a conformational entropy approach. In addition, several protein–polymer complexes have been studied to check how the binding site and presence of ions influence affinity. The presence of divalent cations contributes to the decrease of conformational entropy near carboxyl and sulfate groups. This observation can indicate the higher affinity between glycosaminoglycans and albumin. Moreover, domains IIIA and IIIB of albumin have the highest affinity as those are two domains that show a positive net charge that allows for binding with negatively charged glycosaminoglycans. Finally, in discussion, we suggest some research path to find particular features that would carry information about the dynamics of the particular type of polymers or ions.     

Three-dimensional vertex model in statistical mechanics from Baxter-Bazhanov model

We find that the Boltzmann weight of the three-dimensional Baxter-Bazhanov model is dependent on four spin variables which are the linear combinations of the spins on the corner sites of the cube, and the Wu-Kadanoff-Wegner duality between the cube- and vertex-type tetrahedron equations is obtained explicitly for the Baxter-Bazhanov model. Then a three-dimensional vertex model is obtained by considering the symmetry property of the weight function, which corresponds to the three-dimensional Baxter-Bazhanov model. The vertex-type weight function is parametrized as the dihedral angles between the rapidity planes connected with the cube. We write down the symmetry relations of the weight functions under the actions of the symmetry groupG of the cube. The six angles with a constraint condition appearing in the tetrahedron equation can be regarded as the six spectra connected, with the six spaces in which the vertextype tetrahedron equation is defined.     

The influence of pore wettability on the dynamics of imbibition and drainage

Using large-scale molecular-dynamic (MD) simulations, we have shown previously that the classical Lucas–Washburn equation commonly employed to describe capillary imbibition and drainage should be modified to include dynamic contact-angle effects. In addition, we have demonstrated how these effects can be accounted for using the molecular-kinetic theory of dynamic wetting. In a further publication, we presented theoretical arguments and experimental evidence that the velocity of wetting depends on the intrinsic wettability of the solid surface in such a way that there exists an optimum contact angle at which the velocity of wetting is a maximum. Here, we combine these ideas to show how the maximum speeds of capillary imbibition and drainage are affected both by the pore wettability and the pressures used to drive capillary displacement. In particular, we introduce the concept of dynamic wetting transitions (DWTs) and discuss how these limit displacement efficiency and can be manipulated by controlling pore wettability. The results of this work may be beneficial in optimising the performance of capillary processes such as those involved in oil recovery.     

Acid treatment for functionalizing polyethylene fiber surfaces for enhanced adhesion to epoxy resins

The utility of high-strength, high-modulus polyethylene fibers in fiber-reinforced composites is limited due to its poor interfacial adhesion to various polymeric matrices. One way to overcome this limitation is to introduce reactive functionalities on the fiber surface capable of covalently bonding to matrix resins. Ultra high-strength polyethylene (UHSPE) fibers were treated with chlorosulfonic acid. The surface acid groups were found to considerably improve the interfacial adhesion between polyethylene fibers and epoxy resins as shown by the microbond test. These surface functionalities were found to improve the fiber wettability, as shown by contact angle measurements using the Wilhelmy balance method. Colorimetric measurements of methylene blue absorption were used to quantify the surface concentrations of the acid groups. It was possible to functionalize the UHSPE fiber surfaces using this method to obtain fibers that formed a stronger adhesive bond with epoxy resins; this was achievable without sacrificing other fiber mechanical properties.     

Effect of the crystalline environment upon the rotational conformation about the N-C and C-C′ bonds (Φ andΨ) in amides and peptides

SCFab initio and PCILO computations indicate the intrinsic preference of the torsion angle for 60 °. In the crystal structure of simple methylamides and peptides the observed values for this torsion angle lie between 0 °–30 °. Different procedures for computing lattice energies and total crystallographic conformational energies (lattice + torsional) utilized by other authors, failed to account for this situation. We show that the procedure developed recently in our laboratory for computing lattice energies indicates that the minima of these energies for in acetamide and N-methylacetamide correspond well to 0 °–30 °. Because of the low value of the barrier of the torsional potential for this angle, the total crystallographic conformational energy corresponds also to = 0 °–30 ° in agreement with the experimental data.     

Crystal structure analysis of β-tricalcium phosphate Ca3(PO4)2 by neutron powder diffraction

The crystal structure of sintered β-tricalcium phosphate, Ca₃(PO₄)₂, was refined using a high-resolution neutron powder diffraction data and the Rietveld method. This material was confirmed to have a rhombohedral structure (space group R3c, Z=21). Unit-cell parameters with higher precision (a=b=10.4352(2) Å, c=37.4029(5) Å, α=β=90°, and γ=120° in the hexagonal setting) and positional parameters for oxygen with equal precision were obtained by the neutron powder diffraction technique, compared with the single-crystal X-ray diffraction data by Dickens et al. (J. Solid State Chem. 10 (1974) 232). The site Ca(4) with atomic coordinates [0.0, 0.0, −0.0851(6)] was confirmed to be very different from the other four Ca sites: The position Ca(4) is three-fold coordinated with oxygen atoms, and has lower occupancy factor of 0.43(4), and a higher isotropic thermal parameter. On the contrary, each of the Ca(1), Ca(2), Ca(3), and Ca(5) is fully occupied by one Ca atom and these positions are coordinated with seven, eight, eight, and six oxygen atoms, respectively. The bond valence sums of Ca(4) and Ca(5) are lower (0.7) and higher (2.7), respectively, than the others (1.8-2.1).     

Fenestranes in Synthesis: Unique and Highly Inspiring Scaffolds

The scaffold of fenestranes is quite unique, as it contains four condensed cycles and a distorted tetracoordinated central carbon atom with bond angles greater than the regular 109°28“. In this Minireview, a detailed overview on the developments regarding this compound class, including their synthesis, is given for the time period since 2006. In the past years, natural products that belong to the class of heterofenestranes have been isolated and their syntheses will also be discussed.