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Title: Controlling condensation and frost growth with chemical micropatterns

Journal Article · · Scientific Reports
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/srep19131· OSTI ID:1240546
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [4]
  1. Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
  2. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  3. Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)
  4. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Frost growth on chilled hydrophobic surfaces is an inter-droplet phenomenon, where frozen droplets harvest water from supercooled liquid droplets to grow ice bridges that propagate across the surface in a chain reaction. To date, no surface has been able to passively prevent the in-plane growth of frost across the population of supercooled condensate. Here, we demonstrate that when the nucleation sites for supercooled condensate are properly controlled with chemical micropatterns, the speed of frost growth can be slowed and even halted entirely. This stoppage of frost growth is attributed to the large interdroplet separation between condensate upon the onset of freezing, which was controlled by the pitch of the chemical patterns and by deliberately triggering an early freezing event. Lastly, these findings reveal that frost growth can be passively suppressed by designing surfaces to spatially control nucleation sites and/or temporally control the onset of freezing events.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1240546
Journal Information:
Scientific Reports, Vol. 6; ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 99 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Biological and Engineered Topological Droplet Rectifiers journal January 2019
Duelling dry zones around hygroscopic droplets journal August 2018
Universal evaporation dynamics of ordered arrays of sessile droplets journal March 2019
Nanoengineered materials for liquid–vapour phase-change heat transfer journal December 2016
Droplet migration on hydrophobic–hydrophilic hybrid surfaces: a lattice Boltzmann study journal January 2017
Resistant energy analysis of self-pulling process during dropwise condensation on superhydrophobic surfaces journal January 2019
An integrative bioinspired venation network with ultra-contrasting wettability for large-scale strongly self-driven and efficient water collection journal January 2019
Fundamentals of icing and common strategies for designing biomimetic anti-icing surfaces journal January 2018
How ice bridges the gap journal January 2020
Spatial control of condensation and desublimation using ice nucleating proteins journal October 2018
Accelerated freezing due to droplet pinning on a nanopillared surface journal December 2018
Distinct ice patterns on solid surfaces with various wettabilities journal October 2017
A Review of Condensation Frosting journal November 2016
Droplet Growth Dynamics during Atmospheric Condensation on Nanopillar Surfaces journal July 2018
Facile fabrication of superhydrophobic aluminum surfaces by chemical etching and its anti-icing/self-cleaning performances journal July 2019
Suppressing Ice Nucleation of Supercooled Condensate with Biphilic Topography journal February 2018
Fast dynamics of water droplets freezing from the outside-in text January 2017
Recent advances on open fluidic systems for biomedical applications: A review journal April 2019
An ultrahigh-accuracy Miniature Dew Point Sensor based on an Integrated Photonics Platform journal July 2016
Large scale generation of micro-droplet array by vapor condensation on mesh screen piece journal January 2017