Contact angle measurement of natural materials

Contact angle (CA) is the most important parameter used to quantify the wettability of solid surfaces. In order to evaluate wettability performance, numerous methods have been developed to measure the CA of solid surfaces. Recent years have seen increased focus on the special wettability performance of various biological materials. Biomimetic wettability has become one of the most popular research fields, and novel CA measurements have been invented accordingly. In this protocol, we introduce several CA measurement techniques mainly based on the image capture method, which is commonly to investigate the wettability of natural materials. According to the solid/liquid/gas context, we classify CA measurements into three types: in air, under liquid, and air bubble measurements, and describe methods for each. The precise measurement of CA together with study of surface structure can reveal the mechanisms of special wettability, thus accelerating the investigation of biomaterials. 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.