Micropattern-controlled wicking enhancement in hierarchical micro/nanostructures.

摘要: Wicking in hierarchical micro/nanostructured surfaces has attracted significant attention due to its potential applications thermal management, moisture capturing, drug delivery, and oil recovery. Although some studies have shown that structures enhance wicking over micro-structured surfaces, others found very limited improvement. In this study, we demonstrate the importance of micropatterns enhancement using ZnO nanorods grown on silicon micropillars varying spacings heights. The front is follow a two-stage motion, where faster around micropillars, but slower between adjacent pillar rows latter stage dictates surfaces. competition added capillary action friction nanostructures these two different stages results strong dependence height spacing micropillars. A scaling model for propagation coefficient developed considering both agrees well with experiments. This microstructure-controlled characteristic sheds light more effective design enhancement.