Title: The Lotus Effect: Superhydrophobicity and Metastability
Abstract:To learn how to mimic the Lotus effect, superhydrophobicity of a model system that resembles the Lotus leaf is theoretically discussed. Superhydrophobicity is defined by two criteria: a very high wate...To learn how to mimic the Lotus effect, superhydrophobicity of a model system that resembles the Lotus leaf is theoretically discussed. Superhydrophobicity is defined by two criteria: a very high water contact angle and a very low roll-off angle. Since it is very difficult to calculate the latter for rough surfaces, it is proposed here to use the criterion of a very low wet (solid-liquid) contact area as a simple, approximate substitute for the roll-off angle criterion. It is concluded that nature employs metastable states in the heterogeneous wetting regime as the key to superhydrophobicity on Lotus leaves. This strategy results in two advantages: (a) it avoids the need for high steepness protrusions that may be sensitive to breakage and (b) it lowers the sensitivity of the superhydrophobic states to the protrusion distance.Read More
Publication Year: 2004
Publication Date: 2004-04-01
Language: en
Type: letter
Indexed In: ['crossref', 'pubmed']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 1039
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