Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Commons^™

Quantifying Wicking In Functionlized Surfaces, Maureen Winter, Ryan Regan, Alfred Tsubaki, Craig Zuhlke, Dennis Alexander, George Gogos

UCARE Research Products

Wicking remains the enigmatic key factor in many research areas. From boiling in power plants, to anti-icing on plane wings, to medical instruments, to heat pipes, efficiency and safety depend on how quickly a surface becomes wet. Yet wicking remains difficult to quantify and define as a property of the surface. This experiment strives to measure the wicking property by examining the rate that a liquid can be pulled out of a container. A superhydrophilic surface is placed in contact with the liquid at the bottom of a tube so that the volume flow rate across the surface can be …