Wetting of nanoscale water films on specific surfaces decorated with reentrant structure

Reentrant-structured surfaces can not only significantly enhance the hydrophobicity of solid materials but also provide an energy barrier for resisting liquid intrusion under hydrophilic conditions. These properties show excellent performance in fields of self-cleaning, anti-icing, and contamination prevention. However, understanding of the wetting feature of liquid upon specific surfaces is very scarce, mainly based on the hypothetical wetting pathway. To fill this gap, we employ molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to explore the static and dynamic wetting features of nanoscale water films upon the reentrant-structured surfaces. The free-energy variation over wetting transitions (WTs) is computed based on the restrained MD simulations to reveal the mechanisms underlying. Through observation of wetting pathways, the WT experiences either a hybrid wetting pathway or simple sag intrusion and follows which way depends on the geometric construction of the rough surfaces. Moreover, the effect of reentrant structure and intrinsic contact angle on wetting phenomena has been discussed by changing values of w/W, h/H, and θY. This work paves the way to understanding the wetting feature of nanoscale liquid upon surfaces decorated with reentrant structure, which can help to design advanced functional surfaces with superior robustness.