Comprehensive resource covering the latest development of surface engineering inspired by nature with a special focus on wetting control

Drawing from the natural abilities of plants and animals around the world, Controlled Surface Wetting takes a deep dive into wetting-controlled systems of biological surfaces with information on mechanisms, theory, surface design, fabrication, and effects. This book guides readers to design better engineering surfaces for applications in self-cleaning, water harvesting and repellency, anti-icing, liquid-transport, and beyond.

Exploring the latest literature, this book introduces bioinspired techniques and methods to design wetting-controlled surfaces by using organic or inorganic materials, including those with high/low surface energy, regular/irregular, ordered/disordered, or rough/smooth surfaces, or endless arrangements and combinations of micro- and nanostructures of various styles.

This book begins by introducing biological surfaces such as plant leaves and duck feathers, butterfly wings, and spider silks, as well as their functions, including superhydrophobic properties, water repellency, and capturing tiny water droplets, respectively, progressing through to more advanced topics such as dually-mobile super-repellency, multi-liquid repellency, and switchable repellency in both air and liquid.

Controlled Surface Wetting includes discussion on:

• Fundamental wetting theories, extension and theoretical models, wetting dynamics and kinetics, physics of wetting, wetting adhesion, and wetting chemistry
• Static and dynamic gradients, texture gradients such as gradient polymers, wedge- and helical-induced gradients, and synergism of multi-gradients
• Formation, control, and instability of Rayleigh instability, microfluidics, fluid-coating, electrospinning, fluid diffusion, and laser techniques
• Coalesced-droplet vertical transport, the hierarchical droplet size-effect, atmospheric water harvesting, and energy harvesting
• Artificial skins and sensors, including artificial skin vision, and medical applications, including directional-controllable drug delivery

Controlled Surface Wetting is an up-to-date and completely comprehensive resource for students and researchers in chemistry, physics, and materials science seeking to learn about the design of smart and advanced materials for engineering applications.

Yongmei Zheng, PhD, is a Professor at the Key Laboratory of Bio-Inspired Smart Interfacial Science and Technology of the Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry, Beihang University, Beijing. Her research interests are focused on bioinspired surfaces with gradient micro- and nanostructures to control dynamic wettability and develop the surfaces and materials with characteristics of fog-harvesting, tiny droplet transport, and water collection. Her publications include more than 146 SCI papers with an H index of 52.