Spreading behavior of water droplets on fractal agar gel surfaces.
Agar gels with hierarchical rough surfaces, referred to as "fractal agar gels," were prepared to model biological surfaces coated with mucus. Agar gels with rough surfaces of fractal dimension D = 2.2 were synthesized by transferring a fractal surface structure of alkylketene dimer (AKD). The rough structure accelerated the spreading of water droplets and induced the appearance of a wicking front. The mechanism of acceleration of the spreading on fractal surfaces based on a semiquantitative theoretical model was also clarified.
Nonomura
Yoshimune
Y
Department of Biochemical Engineering, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamagata University, 4-3-16 Jonan, Yonezawa 992-8510, Japan. nonoy@yz.yamagata-u.ac.jp
Morita
Yusuke
Y
Hikima
Takako
T
Seino
Eri
E
Chida
Shigeki
S
Mayama
Hiroyuki
H
D000362:Agar / Q000737:chemistry*; D019281:Dimerization; D005030:Ethylenes / Q000737:chemistry; D017709:Fractals; D005782:Gels; D007659:Ketones / Q000737:chemistry; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D013499:Surface Properties; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*; D017155:Wettability
D005030:Ethylenes; D005782:Gels; D007659:Ketones; D014867:Water; D000362:Agar; C008223:ketene