Researchers from Aalto University have created unique surfaces that cause oil to transport itself to specified locations, directions which have been pre-selected. The oleophobic surfaces created by researchers are microtextures with radial arrays of undercut stripes. When oil drops find their way onto these surfaces, drops are forces to move away from the place they have landed to a direction set by asymmetric geometrical patterning of the surface. These surfaces open up completely new avenues that do not require power in order to transport liquid as well as oil contamination self-removal applications in analytical and fluidic devices. http://sciencenewsjournal.com/new-surface-causes-oil-disperse/ Study: http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/6/e1600148
He he he. And this microtextured radial array undercut whatever is somehow fundamentally conceptually different from and economically viable against - wait for it - good old fashioned wicking? Which, in hype-speak, utilizes special surface tension gradient forces manifesting in trans-micron capillary networks. One example - blotting paper. One could further enhance such 'exotica' via encapsulation inside pseudo 1-D enveloping transport channels. Translation - stuff the blotting paper inside tubes - guaranteeing 'directed flow to whatever special location is desired'. Maybe I should be in marketing/sales.
