High-resolution liquid patterns via three-dimensional droplet shape control

Rishi Raj, Solomon Adera, Ryan Enright and Evelyn N. Wang ()
Additional contact information
Rishi Raj: Device Research Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Solomon Adera: Device Research Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ryan Enright: Thermal Management Research Group, Bell Labs Ireland, Alcatel-Lucent, Ireland Ltd., Blanchardstown Business & Technology Park, Snugborough Road, Dublin 15, Ireland
Evelyn N. Wang: Device Research Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Understanding liquid dynamics on surfaces can provide insight into nature’s design and enable fine manipulation capability in biological, manufacturing, microfluidic and thermal management applications. Of particular interest is the ability to control the shape of the droplet contact area on the surface, which is typically circular on a smooth homogeneous surface. Here, we show the ability to tailor various droplet contact area shapes ranging from squares, rectangles, hexagons, octagons, to dodecagons via the design of the structure or chemical heterogeneity on the surface. We simultaneously obtain the necessary physical insights to develop a universal model for the three-dimensional droplet shape by characterizing the droplet side and top profiles. Furthermore, arrays of droplets with controlled shapes and high spatial resolution can be achieved using this approach. This liquid-based patterning strategy promises low-cost fabrication of integrated circuits, conductive patterns and bio-microarrays for high-density information storage and miniaturized biochips and biosensors, among others.

Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms5975 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms5975

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5975

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().