Thermodynamics and hydrodynamics of spontaneous and forced imbibition in conical capillaries: A theoretical study of conical liquid diode

Thermodynamics and hydrodynamics of spontaneous and forced imbibition of liquid into conical capillaries are studied to assess the feasibility of a conical liquid diode. The analytical formulas for the Laplace pressure and the critical Young's contact angle of the capillary for the onset of spontaneous imbibition are derived using the classical capillary model of thermodynamics. The critical contact angle below which the spontaneous imbibition can occur belongs to the hydrophilic region for the capillary with a diverging radius while it belongs to the hydrophobic region for the capillary with a converging radius. Thus, by choosing Young's contact angle between these two critical contact angles, only the spontaneous imbibition toward the converging radius occurs. Therefore, the capillary with a converging radius acts as the forward direction and that with a diverging radius as the reverse direction of diode. Even under the external applied pressure, the free-energy landscape implies that the forced imbibition occurs only to the forward direction by tuning the applied pressure. Furthermore, the scaling rule of the time scale of imbibition is derived by assuming Hagen–Poiseuille steady flow. Again, the time scale of the forward direction is advantageous compared to the reverse direction when the imbibition to both directions is possible. Therefore, our theoretical analysis shows that a conical capillary acts as a liquid diode.