Wetting articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tissue adhesives have received significant interest for their clinical utility but are typically incompatible with advanced manufacturing methods. Here, the authors introduce a 3D printable tissue adhesive for the fabrication of patches and devices for diverse biomedical applications.

    • Sarah J. Wu
    • , Jingjing Wu
    •  & Xuanhe Zhao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Currently, the anti-icing performance limitation of superhydrophobic materials is gradually approached without the assistance of an external field. Here, the authors propose a strategy of microdroplet movement manipulation induced by interfacial airflow for further improving the anti-icing performance.

    • Jiawei Jiang
    • , Yizhou Shen
    •  & Haifeng Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Current methods for thin film peeling suffer from limitations because of complicated preparations and the limitations of applied films. Li et al. present a peeling method for the thin film’s detachment that is achieved by driving liquid to percolate and spread into the bonding layer under electric fields.

    • Peiliu Li
    • , Xianfu Huang
    •  & Ya-Pu Zhao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Liquid–liquid phase separation is known in cell biology as an underlying mechanism of intracellular organization. The authors study a complex interplay between phase separation, network mechanics, and condensate capillarity, providing explanation for the phenomena in complex environments like the cellular interior.

    • Jason X. Liu
    • , Mikko P. Haataja
    •  & Rodney D. Priestley

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Current droplet manipulation techniques have limitations such as applying to a large scale of volume or of on-demand droplet release. Here using a magnetic actuated Janus origami robot, Jiang et al. present a strategy to achieve omni-manipulation of micro and nanoliter droplets.

    • Shaojun Jiang
    • , Bo Li
    •  & Yanlei Hu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Developing efficient separation methods for oily wastewater holds significant global importance. In this study, the authors combine supewettability and bio-inspired topological structures to demonstrate a dual-bionic superwetting gear system with liquid directional steering to achieve oil-water separation.

    • Zhuoxing Liu
    • , Zidong Zhan
    •  & Zhichao Dong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Liquid metals are widely used in flexible electronics and soft robotics applications, but their adhesion to underlying solid substrates is unwanted. Dai et al. show that liquid metal droplets can overcome adhesion forces and bounce off from the surface covered with a water film with sufficient thickness.

    • Yuhang Dai
    • , Minfei Li
    •  & Zuankai Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ferrofluids with their extreme deformability are being used as soft machines. Using ferrofluids, Sun et al. show a variety of soft machines by playing with the wetting properties of solid surfaces

    • Mengmeng Sun
    • , Bo Hao
    •  & Li Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Switching between adhesive and non-adhesive states is important to design materials with on-demand adhesion properties but realizing reversible switching on large scale remains challenging. Here, the authors report the design of a hydrogel demonstrating rapid and reversibly switch between slippery and sticky states.

    • Zhizhi Zhang
    • , Chenxi Qin
    •  & Feng Zhou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Developing an oscillating actuator that can directly convert solar energy into mechanical energy is highly desirable. Here, authors report a solvent-assisted light-driven oscillator by porous film that achieves excellent oscillating actuation performance and can even oscillate by carrying a load under light irradiation.

    • Jingjing Li
    • , Linlin Mou
    •  & Yongsheng Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spontaneous droplet jumping and control of dropwise condensation are relevant for water-harvesting, heat transfer and anti-frosting applications. The authors design a superhydrophobic surface with microscale thin-walled lattice structure to achieve effective jumping of droplets with specified radius range.

    • Chen Ma
    • , Li Chen
    •  & Quanshui Zheng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Liquid metals that have enormous surface tension are difficult to pattern into films. Here, authors report the spontaneous and selective wetting of a gallium-based liquid metal, which is induced by imbibition on a micro-structured metallized substrate.

    • Ji-Hye Kim
    • , Sooyoung Kim
    •  & Hyung-Jun Koo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Wang et al. report an underwater capillary adhesive that is strengthened by the conjunction of inner water bridge and outer air shell, and switched timely by a small direct current voltage. The design can also be constructed on flexible tapes, which can be applied to non-conductive substrates.

    • Huanxi Zheng
    • , Jing Li
    •  & Zuankai Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Elastic deformation of soft substrates occurs upon wetting, yet it is challenging to follow its dynamics at a microscale. Khattak et al. show that the force required to pull a droplet along a soft surface decreases monotonically as the film thickness decreases and explain the phenomenon using a scaling analysis.

    • Hamza K. Khattak
    • , Stefan Karpitschka
    •  & Kari Dalnoki-Veress

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Guided drop transport at high temperature is of great importance in various water and thermal management technologies. Here, authors report a steerable drop transport dictated by the drop boiling states on heated concentric microgroove arrays.

    • Cong Liu
    • , Chenguang Lu
    •  & Yahua Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Anisotropic functional patterned surfaces have shown significant applications in microfluidics, biomedicine, and optoelectronics. Here, authors demonstrate a fast and mask-free etching method for accurate surface patterning by confined decomposition, enabling the efficient fabrication of complex patterns.

    • Rui Feng
    • , Fei Song
    •  & Yu-Zhong Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A uniform particle deposition is crucial for sensitive applications, such as sensors and electronics. Here, authors introduce a passive protocol to suppress the coffee-ring effect and form uniform films at micro- and nanoscales combining superhydrophilic substrate with a neutral-wetting low-roughness mold.

    • Hossein Zargartalebi
    • , S. Hossein Hejazi
    •  & Amir Sanati-Nezhad

  • Article
    | Open Access

    While a hallmark of living systems, developing sensory-motor interactions in inanimate systems remains challenging. Here, authors show that nanoporous surfaces can be used to create stimuli-responsive droplet interplay with shape transformation and complex behaviours reminiscent of living cell actions.

    • Agustin D. Pizarro
    • , Claudio L. A. Berli
    •  & Martín G. Bellino

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Exploring the interactions between liquids and solids is critical for improving control over fluidic systems. Here, authors develop an active way to tailor various polygonal shapes of non-wetting droplet on microtextured surfaces, resulting from the anisotropic energy barriers of the contact line.

    • Jing Lou
    • , Songlin Shi
    •  & Cunjing Lv

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Despite promising for anti-icing applications, structured superhydrophobic surfaces usually lose their hydrophobicity after a few icing/melting cycles. Here, authors investigate specific structured surfaces and air bubbles on frozen ice droplets to propose three criteria to enable dewetting transitions.

    • Lizhong Wang
    • , Ze Tian
    •  & Minlin Zhong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In classical wetting, the spreading of a drop on a surface is preceded by a bridge directly connecting the drop and the surface, yet it ignores the solubility of the drop phase in the medium. Here, the authors show that dissolved drop fluid from the parent drop can nucleate on the surface as islands, one of which coalesces with the parent drop to effect wetting.

    • Suraj Borkar
    •  & Arun Ramachandran

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Wong et al. demonstrate the efficacy of super-amphiphobic surfaces for in situ defoaming and inhibition of foam growth while handling aqueous solutions. Without the use of chemical additives, their passive approach suggests a facile alternative route to froth management in industrial processes.

    • William S. Y. Wong
    • , Abhinav Naga
    •  & Doris Vollmer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Techniques to alter the surface of materials to enable transport of fluids have advanced considerably, but dynamic microdroplet transport remains a challenge. Here, the authors report the fabrication of microtextured chemical gradients on elastomer films and their use in controlled microdroplet transport.

    • Ali J. Mazaltarim
    • , John J. Bowen
    •  & Stephen A. Morin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The classic Leidenfrost phenomenon is familiar, yet its physics is rather complex. Graeber et al. observe the unexpected development of repeated hopping of a droplet trampolining on its own vapor cushion on a hot plate and show under which conditions this self-initiated motion occurs.

    • Gustav Graeber
    • , Kartik Regulagadda
    •  & Dimos Poulikakos

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Artificial superhydrophobic coatings that are simple to prepare and practical to use are sought after. Here, the authors create versatile, complete-waterproof coatings based on a single-step, stoichiometrically controlled reaction of organosilanes with water.

    • Lishen Zhang
    • , Alvin G. Zhou
    •  & Hua-Zhong Yu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Melting and crystallization of ice close to the triple point is mediated by a thin liquid layer of water. Within an extended theoretical-numerical model, Sibley et al. capture both equilibrium properties and kinetic aspects of the film evolution to arrive at a broader perspective of how ice grows.

    • David N. Sibley
    • , Pablo Llombart
    •  & Luis G. MacDowell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It has been shown previously that substrate viscoelasticity affects surface wettability. Here the authors observe a wetting transition during drying of droplets on such substrates and elucidate it with high resolution force field measurements thereby determining its dependence on substrate properties.

    • Julia Gerber
    • , Tobias Lendenmann
    •  & Dimos Poulikakos

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It is known that liquid drops can be levitated by continuous vapour flow above a liquid surface. Here the authors combine the ultra-low friction provided by the bath with the interaction force between two drops due to interface deformations to study the dynamics of interactions between multiple objects.

    • Anaïs Gauthier
    • , Devaraj van der Meer
    •  & Guillaume Lajoinie

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Omniphobic membranes are attractive for membrane distillation because of their superior wetting resistance. Here the authors develop a particle-free approach for rapid fabrication of monolithic omniphobic membranes and elucidate the underlying mechanism of wetting resistance-vapor permeability trade-off in membrane distillation desalination.

    • Wei Wang
    • , Xuewei Du
    •  & Tiezheng Tong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It has previously been reported that hot drops impacting on a colder surface can lead to loss of surface hydrophobicity unless the surface features are very small. Here the authors find that both small and large features but not intermediate ones are able to preserve hydrophobicity.

    • Timothée Mouterde
    • , Pierre Lecointre
    •  & David Quéré

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Materials with in situ reversible wettability have attractive properties for switching applications, but are a challenge to use especially for the inverse process of liquid spreading. Here, the authors propose an electrochemical strategy enabling in situ reversible superwetting conversion between underwater superoleophilicity and superoleophobicity by constructing a binary textured surface.

    • Qianbin Wang
    • , Bojie Xu
    •  & Lei Jiang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Experimental determination of the contact angle of a two-dimensional film is crucial to understand its wettability characteristics. Here, the authors use the captive bubble method to estimate a contact angle value of 42° ± 3° for a monolayer graphene film.

    • Anna V. Prydatko
    • , Liubov A. Belyaeva
    •  & Grégory F. Schneider

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Using ions of one polarity to form functional layers on surfaces is usually challenging because of counter ions which are inevitably present in the condensed phase. Here the authors demonstrate accumulation of mass-selected anions and neutral molecules from the gas phase to form a self-organizing liquid-like layer on a surface.

    • Jonas Warneke
    • , Martin E. McBriarty
    •  & Julia Laskin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Droplet evaporation control has applications in inkjet printing and surface patterning. Here, the authors show that on slippery curved substrates droplets evaporate by slowly retracting and then suddenly snapping, which can be exploited to design surfaces that control an evaporation sequence.

    • Gary G. Wells
    • , Élfego Ruiz-Gutiérrez
    •  & Rodrigo Ledesma-Aguilar

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Whether or not amorphous solids exhibit strain-dependent surface energies, like those of crystalline materials, is still a matter of debate. Here, Schulman et al. monitor the contact angle of droplets on strained polymeric glasses and elastomers, which directly probes energy variation at the interfaces.

    • Rafael D. Schulman
    • , Miguel Trejo
    •  & Kari Dalnoki-Veress

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Many industrial applications require switchable adhesive properties in wet conditions, but this still remains challenging to achieve. Here the authors synthesize an adhesive based on host-guest interactions that exhibits reversible, tunable and fast regulation of the wet adhesion on diverse surfaces.

    • Yanhua Zhao
    • , Yang Wu
    •  & Zuankai Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    When particle-laden drops evaporate, coffee ring patterns form which can affect particle deposition. Here Davidsonet al. show that unlike previously investigated drops, the flows in drying drops of liquid crystals are driven by an increase in surface tension due to liquid crystal concentration.

    • Zoey S. Davidson
    • , Yongyang Huang
    •  & A. G. Yodh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Emulsions are mixtures of liquids which have applications to pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food components. Here Tcholakovaet al. have developed a low-energy emulsification method which requires a low amount of surfactant, works for temperature-sensitive compounds and has potential for scale-up.

    • Slavka Tcholakova
    • , Zhulieta Valkova
    •  & Stoyan K. Smoukov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The characterisation of interfacial layers, whose rheology can differ from the bulk, is important for the design of new materials. Here, Lhermerout et al. use the dynamics of a moving contact line to quantify the mechanical properties of a polymer thin film.

    • Romain Lhermerout
    • , Hugo Perrin
    •  & Kristina Davitt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Comprehensive elucidation of metal-support interactions is important for controlling and improving their performances in a range of pertinent technologies. Here, the authors reveal how subsurface defects influence the adhesion and wetting of a metal on the surface of a metal oxide.

    • Igor Beinik
    • , Matti Hellström
    •  & Jeppe V. Lauritsen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The wetting on soft surfaces is less understood than that on rigid ones because it is challenging to quantify substrate deformation. Here, the authors monitor the deformation over a large range of droplet velocities, and propose a dynamical model that captures contact line motion and depinning.

    • S. Karpitschka
    • , S. Das
    •  & J. H. Snoeijer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Many insects supply secretion via small tubes or pores to the end of their legs to be able to attach to a surface. Here, inspired by nature, Xue et al.fabricate adhesive pads with porous nanorod structure for oil delivery, which give rise to a 100-fold increase in adhesivity under humid conditions.

    • Longjian Xue
    • , Alexander Kovalev
    •  & Stanislav N. Gorb

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Wetting on soft surfaces exhibits a ridge structure at the contact line and the underlying mechanism is not yet fully understood. Here, Park et al.visualize the evolution of the ridge tip with high spatial and temporal resolution and identity its asymmetric shape independent of surface softness.

    • Su Ji Park
    • , Byung Mook Weon
    •  & Jung Ho Je

  • Article |

    The welding and sintering of nanoparticles is relevant, for example, to establish electrical contacts between particles in printed electronic devices. Here, using electron microscopy and computer simulations, Grouchko et al. discover a room-temperature sintering process driven by a selective wettability of silver nanoparticles independent of their shape.

    • Michael Grouchko
    • , Polina Roitman
    •  & Shlomo Magdassi

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