Understanding the role of infusing lubricant composition in the interfacial interactions and properties of slippery surface

Jingyi Wang; Yifan Wang; Kuanjun Zhang; Xun Liu; Shishuang Zhang; Dianlin Wang; Lei Xie

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.12.174

Understanding the role of infusing lubricant composition in the interfacial interactions and properties of slippery surface

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2024 Apr:659:289-298. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.12.174. Epub 2023 Dec 30.

Authors

Jingyi Wang¹, Yifan Wang², Kuanjun Zhang², Xun Liu², Shishuang Zhang³, Dianlin Wang⁴, Lei Xie⁵

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610500, China; Sichuan Provincial Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Fields Applied Chemistry, Chengdu, Sichuan 610500, China. Electronic address: jingyi.wang@swpu.edu.cn.
² College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610500, China.
³ School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083, China; Key Laboratory of Icing and Anti/De-icing, China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center, Mianyang, Sichuan 621000, China.
⁴ College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610500, China; Sichuan Provincial Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Fields Applied Chemistry, Chengdu, Sichuan 610500, China. Electronic address: dianlin@swpu.edu.cn.
⁵ School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083, China; Key Laboratory of Icing and Anti/De-icing, China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center, Mianyang, Sichuan 621000, China. Electronic address: lei.xie@csu.edu.cn.

PMID: 38176238
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.12.174

Abstract

Liquid-infused surfaces (LISs) have attracted tremendous attention in recent years owing to their excellent surface properties, such as self-cleaning and anti-fouling. Understanding the effect of lubricant composition on LIS performance is of vital importance, which will help establish the criteria to choose suitable infusing lubricants for specific applications. In this work, the role of chemical composition of lubricant in the properties of LISs was investigated. The apparent water contact angle θ_app was dependent on the temperature and beeswax/silicone oil ratio. Nevertheless, the trend of moving velocity of water drop on the tilted LISs did not follow that of θ_app at 20 °C and 37 °C, which was attributed to the increased lubricant viscosity with beeswax/silicone oil ratio. At 60 °C, the drop velocity and θ_app shared the similar variation trend with beeswax/silicone oil ratio, highlighting the significant role of chemistry of the components in beeswax. The alkanes and fatty acids promoted the drop movement, while the fatty acid esters impeded the movement. The interaction forces between water drop and lubricant surfaces were measured using atomic force microscopy. It was demonstrated that the interaction between water drop and lubricant was not the only factor to control the drop movement, while the interaction between lubricant and substrate as well as of lubricant itself also determined the movement. When the adhesions of water-lubricant and lubricant-substrate were similar for different lubricants, the influence of cohesion of lubricant became significant. This work provides useful insights into the fundamental understanding of the interfacial interactions of test drop, infusing lubricant and solid substrate of LISs, and the effect of infusing lubricant composition on the LIS performance.

Keywords: Atomic force microscopy; Interfacial interactions; Liquid-infused surfaces; Lubricant composition.