Langmuir, Vol.33, No.21, 5197-5203, 2017
Spatial Control of Condensation on Chemically Homogeneous Pillar-Built Surfaces
The random nature of dropwise condensation impedes spatial control hereof and its use for creating microdroplet arrays, yet here we demonstrate the spatial control of dropwise condensation on a chemically homogeneous pillar array surface, yielding similar to 8000 droplets/mm(2) under normal atmospheric pressure conditions. The studied pillar array surface is defined by photolithography and etched in silicon by deep reactive ion etching. Subsequently, the surface is covered with a self-assembled monolayer of perfluorodecyltrichlorosilane (FDTS) to render the surface hydrophobic. To obtain a perfect droplet array, with one droplet per pillar, we exploit a phenomenon where the water vapor flux is focused on the apexes of surface asperities by diffusion while matching the nucleation point density to the array dimensions: Matching is here achieved through the variation interpillar distance and vapor flow conditions.