Quick Liquid Propagation on a Linear Array of Micropillars

Langmuir. 2019 Jul 16;35(28):9139-9145. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b00882. Epub 2019 Jun 28.

Abstract

The wetting process of a high energy surface can be accelerated locally through the capillary interaction of a liquid advancing front with a micro-object introduced to the surface (Mu et al., J. Fluid Mech, 2017, 830, R1). We demonstrate that a linear array of micropillars embedded in a fully wettable substrate can produce quick propagation of liquid along the array. It is observed that multiple interactions of a liquid front with pillars can induce the motion of liquid a hundred times faster than in the absence of pillars.