Fast capillary waves on an underwater superhydrophobic surface

Maxime Fauconnier (), Bhuvaneshwari Karunakaran, Alex Drago-González, William S. Y. Wong, Robin H. A. Ras () and Heikki J. Nieminen ()
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Maxime Fauconnier: Aalto University
Bhuvaneshwari Karunakaran: Aalto University
Alex Drago-González: Aalto University
William S. Y. Wong: Aalto University
Robin H. A. Ras: Aalto University
Heikki J. Nieminen: Aalto University

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract The propagation of interfacial waves in free and constrained conditions, such as deep and shallow water, has been broadly studied over centuries. It is a common event that anyone can witness, while contemplating the ocean waves washing ashore. As a complementary configuration, this work introduces waves propagating on an interface restricted by its pinning to the solid microstructures of an underwater superhydrophobic surface. The latter has the ability to stabilize a well-defined microscale gas layer, called a plastron, trapped between the water and the solid phase. The acoustic radiation force produced with focused MHz ultrasound successfully triggers kHz “plastronic waves”, i.e., capillary waves travelling on a plastron’s gas-water interface. The exposed waves possess interesting features, i.e., (i) a high propagation speed up to 45 times faster than conventional deep water capillary waves of comparable wavelength and (ii) a relation of the propagation speed with the geometry of the microstructures. Based on this and on the observed variation of wave speed over time in conditions of gas-undersaturated or -supersaturated water, the usefulness of the plastronic waves for the non-destructive monitoring of the plastron’s stability and the spontaneous air diffusion is eventually demonstrated.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-55907-w

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