"The temperature dependence of the contact angle of water on graphite, silicon and gold was investigated under various conditions to test the Sharp-Kink Approximation. Despite correctly predicting the contact angle at room temperature, the ideal Sharp-Kink Approximation was not found to accurately describe the contact angle's temperature dependence. The discrepancies from the predicted contact angle were characterized in terms of a correction H(T) to the liquid-solid surface tension. H(T) was found to be linear in temperature and decreasing, and is consistent with electrostatic charge effects."

Omniphobic surfaces, which repel polar and non-polar liquids alike, have proven of value in a myriad of applications ranging from piping networks, textiles, food and electronics packaging, and underwater drag reduction. A limitation of currently employed omniphobic surfaces is their reliance on perfluorinated coatings/chemicals, increasing cost and environmental impact and preventing applications in harsh environments. Thus, there is a keen interest in rendering conventional materials, such as hydrocarbon-based plastics, omniphobic by micro/ nanotexturing rather than via chemical makeup, with notable success having been achieved for silica surfaces with doubly reentrant pillars (DRPs). We discovered a critical limitation of DRPs – they catastrophically lose superomniphobicity in the presence of localized physical damages/defects or on immersion in wetting liquids. In response, we pioneered bio-inspired gas-entrapping microtextured surfaces (GEMS) architecture composed of doubly reentrant cavities (DRCs). DRCs are capable of robustly entrapping air when brought into contact with liquid droplets or on immersion, which prevents catastrophic wetting transitions even in the presence of localized structural damage/defects. This dissertation presents our multifaceted research on DRCs via custom-built pressure cells, confocal laser scanning microscopy, environmental scanning electron microscopy, contact angle goniometry, high-speed imaging, and upright optical microscopy. Specific accomplishments detailed in this thesis include: (i) the microfabrication protocols for silica GEMS developed at KAUST; (ii) the characterization of GEMS’ omniphobicity via apparent contact angles and immersion; (iii) the demonstration of ~ 1000,000,000% delays in wetting transitions in DRCs compared to those in simple cavities (SCs) under hexadecane; (iv) a proposal for immersion of surfaces as a criterion for assessing their omniphobicity in addition to apparent contact angles; (v) effects of surface chemistry, hydrostatic pressure, and cavity dimensions on Cassie-to-Wenzel transitions in DRCs and SCs; (vi) the demonstration of “breathing” (liquid-vapor) interfaces in GEMS under fluctuating hydrostatic pressures; and (vii) the demonstration of directional wetting transitions in DRCs (or cavities in general) arranged in one- and two-dimensional lattices. The last chapter in the thesis presents future research directions such as breathing surfaces capable of preempting vapor condensation and gas replenishment.

La compréhension des écoulements biphasiques dans des milieux hétérogènes est déterminante pour un certain nombre de processus industriels. Le plus marquant étant la récupération assistée du pétrole piégé dans des roches poreuses,qui est un moteur pour la recherche dans ce domaine depuis plusieurs décennies.Pourtant, si l’imbibition spontanée de liquides dans un milieu poreux est relativement bien comprises, l’imbibition forcée d’un liquide dans un milieu poreux rempli d’un liquide plus visqueux n’a pas encore été décrite quantitativement. En combinant des expériences de microfluidique et d’imagerie confocale, nous avons étudié la morphologie et la dynamique d’imbibition forcée dans des milieux poreux réguliers. Nous avons mis en évidence la présence de quatre régimes d’imbibition,provenant de dynamiques d’invasion différentes à l’échelle du pore et ayant une signature claire sur les observables macroscopiques. L’étude de la dynamique locale associée à la microscopie confocale, qui donne accès à des informations tridimensionnelles,nous a permis de montrer que les transitions entre ces régimes étaient la conséquence de deux transitions de mouillage et d’une instabilité d’interface.De plus, contrairement à la majorité des études menées jusqu’à présent, nous nous sommes intéressés à l’évolution de ces motifs d’imbibition soumis à une injection continue sur des temps longs devant le temps de percolation. Cela a permis de mettre en évidence le vieillissement de ces motifs qui est le résultat d’un mûrissement d’origine capillaire. / Understanding two-phase flow in heterogeneous media is of great importance for a number of industrial processes. One of the most prominent examples is enhanced oil recovery which has driven fundamental and applied research in this fieldfor decades. However our understanding has remained extremely unbalanced. The case of spontaneous imbibition of a fluid in a porous medium is fairly well understood,whereas quantitative descriptions of forced imbibition in the presence of anunfavorable viscosity ratio is still lacking. Combining large-scale observations and confocal imaging of microfluidic experiments, we studied the morphology and dynamicsof forced imbibition in homogeneous porous media. We identify four classesof three-dimensional patterns resulting from different dynamics at the pore-scale, and having a clear signature on the macroscopic observables. By means of confocalmicroscopy allowing us to visualize three dimensional features of the local dynamics,we show that the transitions between the four imbibition scenarios result from two dynamical wetting transitions and one interfacial instability. In addition,unlike previous studies, we investigate the evolution of those patterns undercontinuous injection over long time scales. We evidence their aging according to acapillary-coarsening process.