AVS 50th International Symposium
    Nanometer Structures Friday Sessions
       Session NS+BI-FrM

Paper NS+BI-FrM9
Electrically Switchable Nanostructured Superhydrophobic Surfaces

Friday, November 7, 2003, 11:00 am, Room 317

Session: Nanotechnology and Biology
Presenter: J.A. Taylor, New Jersey Nanotechnology Consortium
Authors: J.A. Taylor, New Jersey Nanotechnology Consortium
T.M. Schneider, Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies
S. Yang, Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies
A. Kornblit, New Jersey Nanotechnology Consortium
T.N. Krupenkin, Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies
Correspondent: Click to Email
Dynamically switchable nanostructured surfaces are investigated. Behavior of liquids on these surfaces is studied both experimentally and theoretically. Three major states of a liquid drop on these surfaces are demonstrated. The states include highly mobile rolling ball, immobile droplet, and complete wetting state. The transitions between these states were dynamically induced by applying a voltage between a liquid and a nanostructured substrate. Droplet contact angle was measured as a function of applied voltage and nanostructured layer geometry. The obtained results show quadratic dependence of the cosine of the contact angle on voltage, which is in good agreement with the typical electrowetting behavior. The details of interaction of liquids with the nanostructured layer were investigated using SEM technique. The proposed approach potentially allows novel methods of manipulating microscopically small volumes of liquids. This includes essentially frictionless liquid transport, the ability to selectively immobilize the droplets at any given time or position, as well as dynamic control over the penetration on liquids through the nanostructured layer. The obtained results potentially open new and exciting opportunities in microfluidics, chemical microreactors, bio/chemical detection, thermal management of microelectronics, bio-optics, and many other areas.