Fluid Mechanics Of Wettability-Patterned Liquid Surfaces

Solid surfaces with patterned wettability are used by many plants and animals, such as desert beetles and Lotus leaves, to manipulate droplets. In industrial processes, such as printing and air-conditioning, wettability-patterned solid surfaces suffer from droplet pinning and solid-liquid friction hindering the liquid’s mobility. But what if a solid patterned surface was replaced by a liquid patterned surface? Is it even possible to pattern the wettabillity of a liquid surface? In this proposal we will lay the foundations of how droplets interact with domains of distinct droplet-on-liquid wettability, thus developing new knowledge in fluid mechanics, surface science and soft matter