Enhanced and guided self-propelled jumping on the superhydrophobic surfaces with macrotexture

The conventional coalescence-induced jumping of droplets has been extensively studied, but the energy conversion efficiency of conventional droplet jumping is low and the jumping direction is uncontrollable, which greatly limits the application of droplet jumping. In this work, we report an enhanced and guided self-propelled jumping on a superhydrophobic surface with macrotexture and analyze the mechanism of enhancement and guidance. The interaction between the liquid bridge and macrotexture changes the direction of the jumping droplet and enhances the energy conversion efficiency. The direction of droplet jumping can be controlled at about 45 degrees, and the energy conversion efficiency can be increased by about 2.7 times. Published under license by AIP Publishing.