Wetting of nanostructurized sapphire and gold surfaces

We present the results of preliminary experiments regarding research on the contact angle measurements of various liquids on solid surfaces with different morphology. The aim was to get insight into the dependence of wetting phenomena on the nanoscale surface roughness. Flat and nanostructurized surfaces of gold and sapphire were used in the experiments. Four liquids - bromobenzene, water, mercury, and gallium - covering a broad range of surface tension values were used to check how varying roughness influences wetting in the systems with different adhesion/cohesion ratio. Structurization was anisotropic, which resulted in the very interesting behaviour of the examined liquids on the selected surfaces. Significant change of the wetting properties was observed as well as a strong dependence on the surface morphology