Submicron-scale condensation on hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces

Condensation heat transfer is a widely-used technique for industrial applications represented by heat exchanger because of its high heat transfer coefficient. To enhance its performance, a suitable surface is required, where both condensation and droplet removal smoothly occur. In this study, we compared wettability of a graphene surface and an amorphous carbon surface. The result shows that an amorphous carbon surface is more hydrophilic. Then we prepared a graphite surface which has nanoscale hydrophilic regions in large hydrophobic area. We observed the submicron-scale droplet condensation occurs preferentially on the hydrophilic graphite step by using environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM).