Wetting transparency of graphene
Top Cited Papers
- 22 January 2012
- journal article
- letter
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Nature Materials
- Vol. 11 (3), 217-222
- https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3228
Abstract
We report that graphene coatings do not significantly disrupt the intrinsic wetting behaviour of surfaces for which surface–water interactions are dominated by van der Waals forces. Our contact angle measurements indicate that a graphene monolayer is wetting-transparent to copper, gold or silicon, but not glass, for which the wettability is dominated by short-range chemical bonding. With increasing number of graphene layers, the contact angle of water on copper gradually transitions towards the bulk graphite value, which is reached for ~6 graphene layers. Molecular dynamics simulations and theoretical predictions confirm our measurements and indicate that graphene’s wetting transparency is related to its extreme thinness. We also show a 30–40% increase in condensation heat transfer on copper, as a result of the ability of the graphene coating to suppress copper oxidation without disrupting the intrinsic wettability of the surface. Such an ability to independently tune the properties of surfaces without disrupting their wetting response could have important implications in the design of conducting, conformal and impermeable surface coatings.Keywords
This publication has 29 references indexed in Scilit:
- Graphene photonics and optoelectronicsNature Photonics, 2010
- Large-Area Synthesis of High-Quality and Uniform Graphene Films on Copper FoilsScience, 2009
- Preparation of a Superhydrophobic and Conductive Nanocomposite Coating from a Carbon‐Nanotube‐Conjugated Block Copolymer DispersionAdvanced Materials, 2008
- Highly conducting graphene sheets and Langmuir–Blodgett filmsNature Nanotechnology, 2008
- Measurement of the Elastic Properties and Intrinsic Strength of Monolayer GrapheneScience, 2008
- Fine Structure Constant Defines Visual Transparency of GrapheneScience, 2008
- Calculating van der Waals-London dispersion spectra and Hamaker coefficients of carbon nanotubes in water fromab initiooptical propertiesJournal of Applied Physics, 2007
- The rise of grapheneNature Materials, 2007
- Raman Spectrum of Graphene and Graphene LayersPhysical Review Letters, 2006
- Wetting: statics and dynamicsReviews of Modern Physics, 1985