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Updated: Jun 10, 2026

Fabrication of Superhydrophobic Metal Surfaces for Anti-Icing Applications
Published on: August 15, 2018
Drying of colloidal droplets on superhydrophobic surfaces
Lifeng Chen1, Julian R G Evans
1Department of Chemistry, University College London, 20 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AJ, UK.
Abstract:
Recent research on the flow patterns during the drying of droplets of solutions or suspensions has revealed a characteristic flow of dissolved or suspended material to the droplet periphery to produce the 'coffee ring' phenomenon. This effect was used to make ceramic well-plates by spontaneous manufacturing. Here we demonstrate that when a colloidal droplet dries on a superhydrophobic surface, the effect is rather different. Evaporation from the region adjacent to the three phase line becomes so restricted that the interior flows, and hence the final destination of particles, changes and the characteristic bowl-shape becomes inverted.
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A solution is a homogeneous mixture composed of a solvent, the major component, and a solute, the minor component. The physical state of a solution—solid, liquid, or gas—is typically the same as that of the solvent. Solute concentrations are often described with qualitative terms such as dilute (of relatively low concentration) and concentrated (of relatively high concentration).
In a solution, the solute particles (molecules, atoms, and/or ions)...