ARTICLES COMPRISING WETTABLE STRUCTURED SURFACES

摘要

Embodiments of the invention include or comprise super wetting structured surfaces having one or more asperities, sometimes referred to as hemi-wicking. Structured substrates with regular arrays of asperities such as square pillars or frustra were machined from graphite blocks and then treated to render them lyophilic. Liquids spread over these surfaces to produce non- circular wetting areas. As the channels formed between the asperities were made shallower or narrower, liquids wicked more and spread over a larger area. The inherent wettability of the substrate was independent or nearly independent of the substrate. A combination of the appropriate surface structure and moderate inherent wettability can effectively flatten liquids, spreading them over very large areas.