Wetting and evaporation studies on molecularly modified surfaces

Wetting and evaporation of liquid microdroplets on solid surfaces are ubiquitous in nature. Two of the many important factors that influence how a droplet wets and “escapes”, are the chemical composition and roughness of the solid surface. In order to gain a better understanding of these processes as a whole, a systematic study on the factors that influence wetting/evaporation behaviour, including the liquid’s composition, the liquid-solid interface, and the substrate morphology has been carried out in this thesis. In particular, the evaporation profile and its correlation with the wetting hysteresis have been studied using both water and binary mixtures on self-assembled monolayer (SAM) surfaces. Based on surface modification with mixed SAMs in conjunction with microcontact printing and electrochemical deposition techniques, this work aims at a comprehensive and controlled study of how molecular/structural modification dictate the wetting and evaporation behaviour of microdroplets on the surface.