Enhanced Imbibition in Liquid-Infused Coated Microchannels
Spontaneous capillary imbibition has the potential to improve the performance of many micro and nanodevices since it does not require an external energy source to drive a fluid flow. Despite this advantage, controlling and reducing the friction exerted by the channel walls, which limits the speed of the liquid, remains a challenge. Here, we demonstrate experimentally that infusing the walls of a channel with a liquid lubricant substantially speeds up the imbibition process and reduces the overall viscous friction. By varying the viscosity of the lubricant, we observe a substantial reduction of the imbibition time of up to 50%. Our experimental results are in good agreement with previous theoretical predictions, providing a solid framework to study low-resistance spontaneous imbibition processes.
Authors
- A. Hernández‐Machado (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0397-5255)
- Ignacio Pagonabarraga (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6187-5025)
- Rodrigo Ledesma‐Aguilar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8714-0556)
- Sergi G. Leyva (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9176-9285)
- Andreu Benavent‐Claró (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7423-3358)
Institutions
- Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ES)
- Institut de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia de la Universitat de Barcelona
- Universitat de Barcelona (ES)
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Langmuir
- Published
- 2024-12-06
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.4c03514
- Primary Topic
- Surface Modification and Superhydrophobicity
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
- Generalitat de Catalunya
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats
- Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
- Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca
- Agencia Estatal de Investigación