Bioinspired three-dimensional superwetting interfaces for orientation-adaptive liquid extraction and thermal regulation.

HYPOTHESIS: Three-dimensional wettability organization should govern the direction and mode of capillary transport. Coupling superhydrophobic confinement with converging superhydrophilic pathways and a curved crest is hypothesized to enable directional liquid capture and redistribution against unfavorable gravity while preserving gas continuity.

EXPERIMENTS: Inverted-peristome-inspired SS316L channels were fabricated by laser texturing, low-temperature air annealing, selective secondary laser patterning, and stamping. Experiments examined inclined and inverted transport, uniform-wettability controls, a parallel superhydrophilic pathway without wedge-shaped guidance, and different crest geometries. Interfacial-force analysis, gravity-free simulations, transient cooling analysis, and 100-cycle operational tests were performed.

FINDINGS: The patterned interface guided liquid toward the crest without flooding the channel. Liquid climbed a 63° wall at approximately 180 mm s-1. Control experiments supported the roles of the guiding entrance and crest geometry in liquid capture and redistribution. Under the tested cooling conditions, patterning reduced average temperature by 49.7%, improved spatial temperature uniformity by 95.4%, and limited the standard deviation of the steady-state temperature signal to below 0.3 °C. Liquid transport and thermal regulation were retained over 100 cycles, with a modest rise in steady-state temperature. These findings support three-dimensional wettability architecture as a design principle for orientation-adaptive liquid management.