Liquid-Vapor Phase-Change Heat Transfer on Functionalized Nanowired Surfaces and Beyond

Liquid-vapor phase-change processes have been widely exploited in industrial applications including power generation, water processing and harvesting, cooling/refrigeration and environmental control, and thermal management. Enhancing liquid-vapor phase-change heat transfer is of practical interest. Recent advances in micro/nano-fabrication and characterization techniques have not only enabled exciting heat transfer enhancements but also furthered the fundamental understanding of the liquid-vapor phase-change processes. Nanowires can be synthesized with precise control for producing diverse and desired surface morphology with tunable wettability. This review presents an overview of liquid-vapor phase-change heat transfer enhancement on functionalized nanowired surfaces, as well as other promising strategies and surfaces. In this review, we briefly summarize the fabrication techniques for functionalized nanowired surfaces, discuss the underlying mechanisms for boiling and condensation enhancement, and introduce some important works to illustrate the power of design for functionality. We conclude this review by providing the perspectives for future research directions.