Source abstract
Abstract
Wetting of metal surfaces plays an important role in fuel cells, corrosion science, and heat-transfer devices. It has been recently stipulated that Cu surface is hydrophobic. In order to address this issue we use high purity (1 1 1) Cu prepared without oxygen, and resistant to oxidation. Using the modern Fringe Projection Phase-Shifting method of surface roughness determination, together with a new cell allowing the vacuum and thermal desorption of samples, we define the relation between the copper surface roughness and water contact angle (WCA). Next by a simple extrapolation, we determine the WCA for the perfectly smooth copper surface (WCA = 34°). Additionally, the kinetics of airborne hydrocarbons adsorption on copper was measured. It is shown for the first time that the presence of surface hydrocarbons strongly affects not only WCA, but also water droplet evaporation and the temperature of water droplet freezing. The different behavior and features of the surfaces were observed once the atmosphere of the experiment was changed from argon to air. The evaporation results are well described by the theoretical framework proposed by Semenov, and the freezing process by the dynamic growth angle model.
Source: openalex_inverted_index · Quality: baseline
Affiliations
Faculty of Chemistry, Physicochemistry of Carbon Materials Research Group, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Gagarina Street 7, 87-100 Toruń, Poland
Faculty of Chemistry, Chair of Theoretical Chemistry, Maria Curie - Skłodowska University, 20−031 Lublin, Poland
Faculty of Chemistry, Department of Physical Chemistry and Physical Chemistry of Polymers, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Gagarina Street 7, 87-100 Toruń, Poland
College of Science, Health, Engineering and Education, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia 6150, Australia
Funding
Narodowe Centrum Nauki