Zilu Li,Kefei Zhao,Yue Wang,Zirui Zheng,Chenhui Zhang,Yuxia Gao,Fengpei Du
Impact and spread of droplet on superhydrophobic surface are ubiquitous in inkjet printing , pesticide spraying, paint coating, and other fields. However, due to the extremely water-repellent properties of superhydrophobic surface, droplets frequently splash or roll off, causing great waste and serious environmental problems. Thus, searching for an effective strategy to regulate the droplet splash and spread on superhydrophobic surfaces is of remarkable significance. To address the above issues, herein, we demonstrate the controllable regulation on superhydrophobic lotus leaf surface by tuning the double-chain length of surfactants . The outcomes indicate different regularities for droplet splash in a short time (~10 ms) and spread in a relatively long period (~100 s). It can be concluded that dynamic surface tension of surfactant, diffusion rate of surfactant from the bulk to the interface, and assembly disaggregation rate dominate the impact process, whereas the adsorption kinetic and effectiveness of surfactant along with the spreading driving force determine the wetting transition. Surfactant owning suitable hydrophilic and hydrophobic ratio, fast diffusion rate, and unstable assembly could inhibit droplet splash and improve spreading pronouncedly, thereby enhancing the droplet deposition on superhydrophobic surfaces. This study makes original contribution to screen suitable surfactants from the structural aspects, especially double-chain length, which has not been treated in much detail to date. Our work not only creates a big impetus in illuminating the mechanism of surfactant molecular structure on droplet deposition processes but also greatly expands the applications of surfactant in many fields.
Pei Zhang,Hui Wang,Xia Liu,Xuefeng Shi,Jian Zhang,Guang Yang,Keji Sun,Jinben Wang
The dynamic surface tension and dilational viscoelasticity properties of amphiphilic polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers were investigated to probe the hydrophobic chain effect on the interfacial properties and the demulsification behaviors. The values of dynamic parameters n and t * representing diffusion speed of the molecules obtained according to the Rosen equation decreased with the increasing of bulk concentration. Taking the hydrophobic effect into consideration, the t * values decreased and n values increased with the increase of alkyl chain length, suggesting easier adsorption and faster diffusion for longer hydrophobic chain which was opposite to the tendency of traditional surfactants. Further dilational viscoelasticity studies demonstrated that the properties referring to adsorption and exchange-diffusion were probably affected by the aggregates conformation at the interface. Subsequently, from the demulsification experiments a conclusion can be drawn that the amphiphilic dendrimers with branched dendritic structure possesses superior properties of breaking W/O crude oil emulsions, showing a certain correlation to the dilational viscoelasticity properties.