The effect of surface wettability on water vapor condensation in nanoscale

D Niu and GH Tang, SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 6, 19192 (2016).

DOI: 10.1038/srep19192

The effect of surface wettability on condensation heat transfer in a nanochannel is studied with the molecular dynamics simulations. Different from the conventional size, the results show that the filmwise mode leads to more efficient heat transfer than the dropwise mode, which is attributed to a lower interfacial thermal resistance between the hydrophilic surface and the condensed water compared with the hydrophobic case. The observed temperature jump at the solid-liquid surface confirms that the hydrophilic properties of the solid surface can suppress the interfacial thermal resistance and improve the condensation heat transfer performance effectively.

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