Wetting Transition Stimuli of Hydrophobic and Superhydrophobic Surfaces

Nowadays superhydrophobic surfaces have great technological potentials due to their significant properties. Surfaces such as self-cleaning, icephobic or anti-fouling ones are some examples of these systems. Superhydrophobic surfaces can be achieved through hydrophobic coatings, surface roughness and creation of air pockets between the surface of the solid and liquid. Dynamic control of the droplet interactions with these hydrophobic surfaces such as improving the contact angle, controlling the droplet movement and the amount of liquid penetration into the hydrophobic surface has lots of application. Wetting transition is one of the most important phenomena the can occur on rough surfaces. Understanding the physical mechanism of these transitions and the stimuli which can cause them has great importance for designing the superhydrophobic surfaces with high stability.