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Indexed by:期刊论文

Date of Publication:2021-02-02

Journal:CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SCIENCE

Volume:217

ISSN No.:0009-2509

Key Words:Water cluster; Vapor condensation; Attenuated total reflection IR; Surface structure

Abstract:Engineered surfaces for water collection have been intensively investigated. However, microscopic mechanism of condensation on structural surfaces is rarely explored and it's always a challenge to observe the dynamic behavior of clusters in nanometer size. Here, a measurement is developed to observe cluster along cooling surface. Experimental results show that clusters has been formed before reaching the surface, and condense would be formed by those clusters. Cluster size n gradually increases with closer to the cooling surface, ranging from tens to a few hundreds. Based on the spatial distribution of clusters, the effect of surface microstructures on condensation is analyzed by classical nucleation theory. Surface microstructures can increase the radius of curvature of clusters to exceed the critical size. This key distance is consistent with height of water-trapping villi of some organism. It will help us better understand the scale characteristics of water-trapping structures on some organisms. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.