Fast and Slow Wetting Dynamics on nanostructured surfaces

This talk will present force-displacement and spontaneous drop spreading measurements on diverse nanostructured surfaces (e.g., mesoporous titania thin films, nanoscale pillared structures, on silica or glass substrates). Experimental measurements are performed for water-air and water-oil systems. The dynamics of wetting observed in these experiments can present remarkable crossovers from fast to slow or arrested dynamics. The emergence of a slow wetting regime is attributed to a multiplicity of metastable equilibrium states induced by nanoscale surface features. The crossover point can be dramatically advanced or delayed by adjusting specific physical parameters (e.g., viscosity of the wetting phases) and geometric properties of the surface nanostructure (e.g., nanopore/pillar radius and separation). Controlling the crossover point to arrested dynamics can effectively modify the degree of contact angle hysteresis and magnitude of liquid adhesion forces observed on surfaces of different materials.