Polygonal non-wetting droplets on microtextured surfaces

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. Understanding the interactions between liquids and solids is important for many areas of science and technology. Microtextured surfaces have been extensively studied in microfluidics, DNA technologies, and micro-manufacturing. For these applications, the ability to precisely control the shape, size and location of the liquid via textured surfaces is of particular importance for the design of fluidic-based systems. However, this has been passively realized in the wetting state thanks to the pinning of the contact line, leaving the non-wetting counterpart challenging due to the low liquid affinity. In this work, confinement is imposed on droplets located on well-designed shapes and arrangements of microtextured surfaces. An active way to shape non-wetting water and liquid metal droplets into various polygons ranging from triangles, squares, rectangles, to hexagons is developed. The results suggest that energy barriers in different directions account for the movement of the contact lines and the formation of polygonal shapes. By characterizing the curvature of the liquid-vapour meniscus, the morphology of the droplet is correlated to its volume, thickness, and contact angle. The developed liquid-based patterning strategy under active regulation with low adhesion looks promising for low-cost micromanufacturing technology, DNA microarrays, and digital lab-on-a-chip.

Automated summary

Understanding the interactions between liquids and solids is crucial for controlling fluidic systems. In this study, researchers developed an active method to shape non-wetting droplets into various polygonal shapes using microtextured surfaces. This research has potential significance for applications such as micromanufacturing technology and biochips.