The effect of nano-structured surfaces on pool boiling heat transfer is explored in this study. Experiments are conducted in a cubical test chamber containing fluoroinert coolant (PF5060, Manufacturer: 3M Co.) as the working fluid. Pool boiling experiments are conducted for saturation and subcooled conditions. Three different types of ordered nano-structured surfaces are fabricated using Step and flash imprint lithography on silicon substrates followed by Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) or Deep Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE). These nano-structures consist of a square array of cylindrical nanofins with a longitudinal pitch of 1 mm, transverse pitch of 0.9 mm and fixed (uniform) heights ranging from 15 nm – 650 nm for each substrate. The contact angle of de-ionized water on the substrates is measured before and after the boiling experiments. The contact-angle is observed to increase with the height of the nano-fins. Contact angle variation is also observed before and after the pool boiling experiments. The pool boiling curves for the nano-structured silicon surfaces are compared with that of atomically smooth single-crystal silicon (bare) surfaces. Data processing is performed to estimate the heat flux through the projected area (plan area) for the nano-patterned zone as well as the heat flux through the total nano-patterned area, which includes the surface area of the fins. Maximum heat flux (MHF) is enhanced by ~120 % for the nanofin surfaces compared to bare (smooth) surfaces, under saturation condition. The pool boiling heat flux data for the three nano-structured surfaces progressively overlap with each other in the vicinity of the MHF condition. Based on the experimental data several micro/nano-scale transport mechanisms responsible for heat flux enhancements are identified, which include: “microlayer” disruption or enhancement, enhancement of active nucleation site density, enlargement of cold spots and enhancement of contact angle which affects the vapor bubble departure frequency.

The effect of nano-structured surfaces on pool boiling heat transfer is explored in this study. Experiments are conducted in a cubical test chamber containing fluoroinert coolant (PF5060, Manufacturer: 3M Co.) as the working fluid. Pool boiling experiments are conducted for saturation and subcooled conditions. Three different types of ordered nano-structured surfaces are fabricated using Step and flash imprint lithography on silicon substrates followed by Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) or Deep Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE). These nano-structures consist of a square array of cylindrical nanofins with a longitudinal pitch of 1 mm, transverse pitch of 0.9 mm and fixed (uniform) heights ranging from 15 nm - 650 nm for each substrate. The contact angle of de-ionized water on the substrates is measured before and after the boiling experiments. The contact-angle is observed to increase with the height of the nano-fins. Contact angle variation is also observed before and after the pool boiling experiments. The pool boiling curves for the nano-structured silicon surfaces are compared with that of atomically smooth single-crystal silicon (bare) surfaces. Data processing is performed to estimate the heat flux through the projected area (plan area) for the nano-patterned zone as well as the heat flux through the total nano-patterned area, which includes the surface area of the fins. Maximum heat flux (MHF) is enhanced by ~120 % for the nanofin surfaces compared to bare (smooth) surfaces, under saturation condition. The pool boiling heat flux data for the three nano-structured surfaces progressively overlap with each other in the vicinity of the MHF condition. Based on the experimental data several micro/nano-scale transport mechanisms responsible for heat flux enhancements are identified, which include: "microlayer" disruption or enhancement, enhancement of active nucleation site density, enlargement of cold spots and enhancement of contact angle which affects the vapor bubble departure frequency.

The rapid development of micro/nanofabrication techniques have enabled engineering of material interfacial properties. Micro/nanostructures with unique electrical, mechanical, thermal, magnetic, optical, and biological properties, have found applications in a wide range of fields such as electronics, photonics, biological/chemical sensing, tissue engineering, and diagnostics, etc. As such, numerous strategies have been developed for structuring materials into micro/nano- scale. However, the challenge still lies in the high cost, low throughput, complexity in fabrication, and difficulty in scaling up. This thesis aims to explore fabrication strategies for micro/nanostructured surfaces that are versatile, simple, and inexpensive. The thin film stencil lift-off technique with both Parylene and self-adhesive vinyl has been explored for this purpose. Further applications of the resulted micro/nanostructured surfaces are also presented in this thesis. Through improved Parylene stencil fabrication process, both spontaneously phase-segregated and arbitrary binary supported lipid bilayer patterns have been achieved. Also, the microstructured Parylene surfaces have been ddemonstrated for patterning stacked SLBs that are either homogeneous or phase-segregated. Without any lithography technique involved, vinyl stencil lift-off offers as a facile and inexpensive benchtop method for patterning thin films such as metal and glassy films. Combining the thermal shrinking of shape memory polymer, the patterned feature sizes are further decreased by 60% in both x and y dimensions, pushing the patterning resolution to down to sub-100 μm range. In addition, the shrinking process induces micro/nanostructures onto the deposited thin film, and the structure sizes are easily tunable with film thickness deposited. Further applications of such patterned micro/nanostructured surfaces has also been explored. The structured gold films have served as high-surface-area electrodes for electrochemical sensing. By introducing photoresist as a sacrificial layer, the structured gold thin films can be lifted off and transferred onto elastomeric substrate, and serve stretchable and flexible sensors. Such sensing devices exhibit great stability and reproducibility even when working under external strain. Finally, the micro/nanostructured glassy surfaces have been employed as substrate for cell growth to study topographical effect on cell morphology. It has been concluded that rougher surfaces lead to cell elongation, and finer structures promote filopodia generation. These results underscore the strength and suitability of thin film stencil lift-off as a powerful technique for creating micro- and nanostructured surfaces. These structured surfaces could find applications in many other areas, due to their great properties such as tunable structure size, high surface area, flexibility, and long-term stability. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)