Wetting a superomniphobic porous system

CIMADORO, J.; CERDA, E.; RIBBA, L.; GOYANES, S.

SOFT MATTER

ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY

Lugar: CAMBRIDGE; Año: 2019 vol. 15 p. 8621 - 8626

1744-683X

While important research has been focused on developing surfaces that do not wet, some textures with high-wetting resistance are familiar in other applications in which the opposite is needed. A multivalued surface, common in most fabrics or meshes, allows the invading gas-liquid interface to support relatively high imposed pressures and plays a key role in producing topographic elements that avoid wetting. Here we study experimentally and theoretically the critical pressure needed to move a liquid through a network of pores and show that, for small aperture size, wetting and leaking are typical first-order transitions, with a singular behavior at the omniphobic/omniphilic limit (θc = π/2).