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Understanding contact line dynamics on superhydrophobic surfaces with microscopic structures is essential for designing materials with reduced drag, anti-icing, self-cleaning, and anti-fouling properties. Using numerical simulations, we…
Diamond-based coatings are employed in several technological applications, for their outstanding mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and chemical stability. Of significant relevance is the interface with silicon oxide, where phenomena…
Hydrodynamic slip of Newtonian liquids is a new phenomenon, the origin of which is not yet clarified. There are various direct and indirect techniques to measure slippage. Here we describe a method to characterize the influence of slippage…
The removal of liquid droplets from solid surfaces is central to cleaning, coatings and oil recovery. Here we investigate liquid droplets capillary lifted by an immiscible working liquid. The rising working liquid triggers the formation of…
A huge number of technological and biological systems involves the lubricated contact between rough surfaces of soft solids in relative accelerated motion. Examples include dynamical rubber seals and the human joints. In this study we…
Freezing or solidification of impacting droplets is omnipresent in nature and technology, be it a rain droplet falling on a supercooled surface, be it in inkjet printing where often molten wax is used, be it in added manufacturing or in…
We investigate the dynamics of spreading in a regime where the shape of the drop is close to a spherical cap. The latter simplification is applicable in the late (viscous) stage of spreading for highly viscous drops with a diameter below…
The influence of the external pressure and surface energy on the wetting transition at nanotextured interfaces is studied using molecular dynamics and continuum simulations. The surface roughness of the composite interface is introduced via…
Crystallization and vitrification are two different routes to form a solid. Normally these two processes suppress each other, with the glass transition preventing crystallization at high density (or low temperature). This is even true for…
Inspired by the observation of intricate and beautifully dynamic patterns generated by food coloring on clean glass slides, we have investigated the behavior of propylene glycol and water droplets on high energy surfaces. In this fluid…
Using molecular dynamics based on Langevin equations with a coordinate- and velocity-dependent damping coefficient, we study the frictional properties of a thin layer of "soft" lubricant (where the interaction within the lubricant is weaker…
A mechanistic understanding of adhesion in soft materials is critical in the fields of transportation (tires, gaskets, seals), biomaterials, micro-contact printing, and soft robotics. Measurements have long demonstrated that the apparent…
\textbf{Background} Hydrogels are crosslinked polymer networks that can absorb and retain a large fraction of liquid. Near a critical sliding velocity, hydrogels pressed against smooth surfaces exhibit time-dependent frictional behavior…
Ice accumulation hinders the performance of, and poses safety threats for infrastructure both on the ground and in the air. Previously, rationally designed superhydrophobic surfaces have demonstrated some potential as a passive means to…
We developed functional surfaces of laser-microstructured silicon coated with blends of polystyrene (PS) and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) and we study their switching wetting behavior between hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity. Large…
Droplet impact in airflow environments is ubiquitous in nature and industry, making the understanding of this multiphase behavior crucial for technologies such as anti-icing and spray cooling. In this study, the dynamics of droplet impact…
Droplets coalescing on a superhydrophobic surface exhibit coalescence-induced droplet jumping. However, water vapor condensing on a superhydrophobic surface can result in simultaneous formation of condensate droplets with two distinct…
Ionic liquids have generated interest in applications as lubricants and as additives to conventional lubricants due to their unique physical properties. In these applications, the liquid thin film can be subjected simultaneously to…
We studied the dynamics of a liquid contact line receding on a hydrophobic soft gel (SBS-paraffin). In order to realize a well-defined geometry with an accurate control of velocity, a dip-coating setup was implemented. Provided that the…
How to make small liquid droplets move spontaneously and directionally on solid surfaces is a challenge in lab-on-chip technologies, DNA analysis, and heat exchangers. The best-known mechanism, a wettability gradient, does not move droplets…