Wetting articles within Nature Chemistry

Featured

• Article
  23 October 2023 | Open Access

  Droplet slipperiness despite surface heterogeneity at molecular scale

  Surface heterogeneity is generally acknowledged as the major cause of liquid–solid friction, affecting whether droplets slide off the surface or stick to it. Now, a model surface of self-assembled monolayers has been used to investigate how molecular-scale surface heterogeneity affects water contact angle hysteresis and contact line friction. The high-coverage hydrophobic surface is slippery, as—counter-intuitively—is the low-coverage hydrophilic surface.

  • Sakari Lepikko
  • , Ygor Morais Jaques
  •  & Robin H. A. Ras

• Article | 16 March 2023

  Autonomous and directional flow of water and transport of particles across a subliming dynamic crystal surface

  Crystals of hexachlorobenzene have now been shown to support the autonomous motion of water and particulate matter over their surface. Parallel microchannels present at the surface of the crystal gradually widen by sublimation, propelling droplets of condensed ambient water that can also transport microscopic amounts of material such as silver microparticles.

  • Patrick Commins
  • , Marieh B. Al-Handawi
  •  & Panče Naumov