| 摘要 |
Apparatus for draining liquid droplets from a surface is described. The apparatus comprises an array of oleophilic channels substantially interspersed with oleophobic material, wherein a width of an oleophilic channel is arranged to move liquid associated with said droplets along the oleophilic channel by capillary action and wherein a distance between two successive oleophilic channels is less than a critical droplet diameter, the critical droplet diameter corresponding to a droplet that will separate from the surface. The oleophilic channels act to preferentially attract condensed oil and the oleophobic material acts to repel condensed oil such that formation of droplets is restricted by the oleophilic channel. By selecting an appropriate channel width, the size of droplets is prevented from exceeding a critical size, at which the droplets can no longer be held by surface tension to the condensing surface and drip away from the condensing surface. |
