Passive Directional Water Transport on Superhydrophobic Gradient Textures Fabricated by Direct Laser Interference Patterning
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
In this work, the fabrication of a novel gradient surface microstructure using two-beam direct laser interference patterning is presented. Periodic structures are produced on stainless steel surfaces exhibiting simultaneous gradients in spatial period (2.0–4.8 µm) and surface roughness (Sa: 0.6–0.2 µm) over millimeter-scale lengths. Water droplets with a volume of 10 µL are released at different heights above the surfaces to characterize their capability of directional water transport. Surfaces combining gradients in both spatial period and roughness exhibit a transport distance improvement of 160% compared with reference surfaces containing only a spatial-period gradient. When droplets are released from a height of 2.2 mm, a maximum lateral displacement of 7.59 ± 0.09 mm along the spatial period gradient direction is achieved, which is ascribed to a gradient in the pinning force gradient due to the ridges asperities. Further examinations with inclined surfaces reveal that the gradient-induced pinning asymmetry can effectively counteract the gravitational force component at a tilt of 2.5°, reducing the net downhill displacement to nearly zero. The experiments performed in this work provide a novel approach to enhance the effects of surface gradients under superhydrophobic condition and explore their application potential for the directional water transportation of microliter droplets.
Details
| Original language | English |
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| Article number | e71167 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Advanced materials technologies |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue number | 18 |
| Early online date | 13 Jul 2026 |
| Publication status | Published - 18 Sept 2026 |
| Peer-reviewed | Yes |
External IDs
| ORCID | /0000-0003-4333-4636/work/222087904 |
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Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Keywords
- anisotropic wetting, direct laser interference patterning, directional water transportation, hybrid-gradient surface structure, superhydrophobicity