Superwetting Surface for Diminishing Leidenfrost Effect

Problem: Limited heat flux of conventional two-phase cooling solutions due to the Leidenfrost effect Technology: The invention provides new superwetting nanostructures that can fundamentally alter droplet-surface interactions to continuously rewet the surface and prevent vapor film formation. Micro-scale square posts can be fabricated on silicon wafers with a regular micro-electromechanical system process, photolithography followed by reactive ion etch. For different micro-nano hierarchical structures, silica particles with different diameters, from 15nm to 75nm, were spin-coated on the substrates already having micro scale square posts, and sintered. Such square-pillared design of surface textures can significantly enhance nucleate boiling and diminish the Leidenfrost limits. Christopher Noble crn@mit.edu