Wetting transparency of graphene

It is demonstrated that graphene coatings do not alter the wetting behaviour of copper, gold or silicon surfaces. Such wetting transparency—shown to occur only for surfaces where surface–water interactions are dominated by van der Waals forces—and graphene’s ability to suppress copper oxidation result in a 30–40% increase in condensation heat transfer on copper. The findings have implications for graphene-based coatings with independently tunable electronic and wetting properties.