Smart and Soft Interfacial Phenomena: From Smart Surfaces Design to Droplet-Microstructure Interaction

Almost every solid object has a surface that interacts with the surrounding liquids and this interaction-related behaviors and physics are termed Interfacial Phenomena. Specifically, how the microstructures of a superhydrophobic surface affect the dynamics and mobility of a water droplet play a critical role in various applications spanning from energy, water, to health. However, current studies were mostly conducted using rigid and passive surface microstructures and hence, a surface with stimuli-responsive, flexible, and superhydrophobic microstructures, denoted as smart ciliated surface, is an emerging topic in Interface Engineering and Science. Nevertheless, engineering challenges regarding mechanical fragility and mass production of smart microwires, scientific questions regarding the microscopic breakdown of surface superhydrophobicity and droplet-flexible microstructure coupling are the bottleneck for the application of smart ciliated surfaces. To address these challenges and questions, Dr. Jiang will introduce his research thrust, that is, Smart and Soft Interfacial Phenomena, with three interrelated directions: (1) scalable fabrication of robust smart ciliated surfaces, (2) microscopic superhydrophobicity breakdown, and (3) droplet mobility on flexible microstructures with emphasis on the second direction.