Katrina M Wisdom, Jolanta A Watson, Xiaopeng Qu, Fangjie Liu, Gregory S Watson, Chuan-Hua Chen
The self-cleaning function of superhydrophobic surfaces is conventionally attributed to the removal of contaminating particles by impacting or rolling water droplets, which implies the action of external forces such as gravity. Here, we demonstrate a unique self-cleaning mechanism whereby the contaminated superhydrophobic surface is exposed to condensing water vapor, and the contaminants are autonomously removed by the self-propelled jumping motion of the resulting liquid condensate, which partially covers or fully encloses the contaminating particles...
May 14, 2013: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America