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Updated: May 28, 2025
07:18
Measuring the Interaction Force Between a Droplet and a Super-hydrophobic Substrate by the Optical Lever Method
Published on: June 14, 2019
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Fast capillary waves on an underwater superhydrophobic surface.
Maxime Fauconnier1, Bhuvaneshwari Karunakaran2, Alex Drago-González3
1Medical Ultrasonics Laboratory (MEDUSA), Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland. maxime.fauconnier@aalto.fi.
Nature Communications
|February 12, 2025
Summary
Researchers have discovered "plastronic waves" on superhydrophobic surfaces, which travel up to 45 times faster than typical water waves. These waves can monitor the stability of underwater gas layers, aiding in non-destructive analysis.
Area of Science:
- Fluid dynamics
- Surface science
- Acoustics
Background:
- Interfacial wave propagation is well-studied in open water conditions.
- Superhydrophobic surfaces can stabilize microscale gas layers (plastrons) underwater.
- Previous research has not explored waves on these plastron interfaces.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the generation and properties of waves on a plastron interface.
- To explore the potential applications of these novel waves.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing focused MHz ultrasound to generate acoustic radiation force.
- Inducing kHz
- plastronic waves
- on the gas-water interface of a plastron.
- Analyzing wave propagation speed and its dependence on microstructure geometry and gas saturation.
Main Results:
- Successfully triggered kHz plastronic waves using MHz ultrasound.
- Observed significantly high wave propagation speeds (up to 45x faster than conventional capillary waves).
- Demonstrated a correlation between wave speed and microstructure geometry, and temporal variations linked to gas saturation.
Conclusions:
- Plastronic waves exhibit unique high-speed propagation characteristics.
- These waves are influenced by surface microstructure and gas layer stability.
- Plastronic waves offer a promising method for non-destructive monitoring of plastron stability and air diffusion in underwater superhydrophobic surfaces.
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