Controlled liquid entrapment over patterned sidewalls in confined geometries

Liquid entrapment over patterned surfaces has applications in diagnostics, oil recovery, and printing processes. Here we study the process of oil displacement upon sequential injection of water over a photopatterned structure in a confined geometry. By varying the amplitude and frequency of triangul...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gupta, Ankur, Lee, Hyundo, Doyle, Patrick S
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/113826
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3506-5712
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2147-9172
Description
Summary:Liquid entrapment over patterned surfaces has applications in diagnostics, oil recovery, and printing processes. Here we study the process of oil displacement upon sequential injection of water over a photopatterned structure in a confined geometry. By varying the amplitude and frequency of triangular and sinusoidal patterns, we are able to completely remove oil or trap oil in varying amounts. We present a theoretical model based on geometrical arguments that successfully predicts the criterion for liquid entrapment and provides insights into the parameters that govern the physical process.