Wang, Z., Owais, A., Neto, C., Pereira, J.M., Gan, Y. (2020) Enhancing Spontaneous Droplet Motion on Structured Surfaces with Tailored Wedge Design. Advanced Materials Interfaces, in press.
Abstract: Spontaneous liquid transport has a wide variety of applications, including fog har- vesting, microfluidics, and water-oil separation. Understanding of the droplet move- ment dynamics on structured surfaces is essential for enhancing the transport perfor- mance. In this work, we develop a theoretical model describing the movement process of droplets on surfaces with prescribed wedge shapes. Agreement is observed between the predictions from the model and experimental results. Through theoretical analy- sis and quantitative comparison between the transport performance of different wedge shapes, we identify the factors affecting the movement process and provide guidelines for wedge shape optimisation for spontaneous droplet transport.
Different starting positions 
Different droplet volumes
Full paper can be downloaded via Publications page, when available.