Underoil Directional Self-Transportation of Water Droplets on a TiO2-Coated Conical Spine

Directional self-transportation of tiny droplets is significant in many fields. However, almost all existing studies focus on the phenomenon in air, and to realize similar performance in complex environments, such as oil, is still extremely rare. Here, we report a TiO2-coated conical spine (TCS) and demonstrate underoil directional self-transportation of water droplets on its surface. It is found that high surface hydrophilicity resulting from UV irradiation is necessary to achieve the self-transportation of water in oil. The critical water contact angle in oil is about 57 degrees, and the maximal transport velocity can reach 1.4 mm/s. Mechanism analysis reveals that the excellent self-transportation property is ascribed to the combined effect between the Laplace force (FL) caused by the conical gradient structure and the hysteresis reduction resulting from the high hydrophilicity. Moreover, based on the special underoil self-transportation performance, a droplet-based microreaction and demulsification of water-in-oil emulsions were demonstrated using the TCS. This work reports the self-transportation of water in oil, which could provide some fresh ideas for designing new superwetting self-transportation materials.

Automated summary

This study reports the directional self-transportation of water droplets in oil using a TiO2-coated conical spine. By increasing the surface hydrophilicity and utilizing the Laplace force caused by the conical gradient structure, the self-transportation is achieved. The findings of this study provide new ideas for designing new superwetting self-transportation materials.