Research update: Electric fields can push droplets from surfaces
Researchers at MIT have followed up on their discovery that droplets of water acquire an electric charge when jumping from certain condenser surfaces by finding a way to make use of that effect: They found that by applying an electric field to the system, the droplets “jump” more rapidly away from the surface. In this way, the efficiency of heat transfer from that surface can be nearly doubled.The work is reported in the journal ACS Nano by MIT postdoc Nenad Miljkovic, associate professor of mechanical engineering Evelyn Wang, graduate student Daniel Preston, and former postdoc Ryan Enright.The finding could have a number of applications, Miljkovic suggests, including in prevention of ice buildup on refrigerator condensing coils and improved cooling of high-performance computer chips.Miljkovic and his co-workers had originally found, earlier this year, that a particular kind of nanopatterning of condenser surfaces — producing a superhydrophobic surface — could cause pairs...