Implementation of solar power by photovoltaic modules in cold climates, such as northern Sweden, implies several challenges. Ice and snow coverage not only leads to reduction in energy production due to shading, but it also puts equipment at risk from additional weight. The goal of this thesis was to formulate a passive ice shedding coating for photovoltaics that could handle the demands of both high optical transmittance and durability. In addition, the coating should be environmentally friendly and low cost. For that purpose, a state-of-the-art, superhydrophobic sol-gel silica-based coating was selected with the focus on optimizing its transparency, wettability, and durability. Different concentrations of binder, tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), and catalyst (HCl) in the sol were explored, as well as post-treatment temperatures and sol aging, Hydrophobization was done by self-assembly of a silane and plasma polymerization of a siloxane. The coatings were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, contact angle measurements, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), tape peel strength, freeze-thaw cycling, ice adhesion force and a field test. Superhydrophobic, anti-reflective coatings with high transmittance (88.5±1.9%) were achieved, with some of them retaining their superhydrophobic properties after 15 freeze-thaw cycles between room temperature and -20°C. The main findings were that the amount of TEOS in the sol has the largest influence on transmittance and strength, with more TEOS leading to less transparent but stronger coatings, and that calcination of the coatings greatly improves their durability.

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Non-wetting surfaces mainly categorized into superhydrophobic (SHS), lubricant-infused (LIS) and solid-infused surfaces (SIS), by virtue of their superior water repellant properties have wide applications in several energy and environmental systems. In this dissertation, the role of non-wetting surfaces toward the enhancement of condensation effectiveness is analyzed by taking into consideration the tube side and shell side individual interfacial energy transport processes namely, drag reduction, convection heat transfer enhancement, fouling mitigation and dropwise condensation heat transfer. First, an analytical solution is developed for effective slip length and, in turn, drag reduction and friction factor on structured non-wetting surfaces. Secondly, by combining the solution for effective slip length on structured non-wetting surfaces and the fractal characterization of generic multiscale rough surfaces, a theoretical analysis of drag reduction, friction factor, and convection heat transfer enhancement is conducted for scalable non-wetting surfaces. Next, fractal representation of rough surfaces is used to theoretical derive the dropwise condensation heat transfer performance on SHS and novel SIS surfaces. The aspect of dynamic fouling mitigation properties of non-wetting surfaces is explored by conducting systematic experiments. Using Taguchi design of experiments, this work for the first time presents a closed formed relationship of fouling mitigation quantified in terms of asymptotic fouling resistance with Reynolds number, foulant concentration and viscosity of the infusion material that represents the different surface types in a unified manner. Furthermore, it was observed that LIS and SIS offer excellent fouling mitigation compared to SHS and conventional smooth surfaces, however only SIS owing to the presence of solid-like infusion materials is observed to be robust for practical applications. / Doctor of Philosophy / Inspired by the naturally occurring water repellant lotus leaf and pitcher plant, metallic surfaces have undergone engineering modifications to their native wetting properties. By generating roughness features ranging from nanometer to micrometer length scales, subjecting them to low surface energy treatments and by choosing an appropriate water repellant infusion material, the water repellant properties seen on lotus leaf and pitcher plant can be engineered. Such water repellant (non-wetting) surface fabrication methods are widely available in the literature however very few are scalable to surface types (e.g. copper, aluminum etc.), surface size (millimeters to meters) and shape (plain, curved, inside of tubes etc.). In this work, considering scalable fabrication methods such as electrodeposition and chemical etching, a systematic analysis is conducted on enhancement of four interfacial processes that are a part of many industrial applications. First, the extent of water repellency by structured non-wetting surfaces for the flow of fluid (water) quantified in terms of effective slip length of flow is analytically derived. Using this theory and a self-similar (fractal) nature of the more generic rough surface designs, a theoretical analysis into the drag reduction, convection heat transfer enhancement on non-wetting surfaces is conducted. Next, using the fractal nature of the rough superhydrophobic surfaces (SHS) a theoretical investigation into dropwise condensation performance is used to derive bounds on condensation heat transfer enhancement. Through systematic experimental investigations, it is shown that a solid-infused surface (SIS) and lubricant-infused surfaces (LIS) which, respectively, incorporate a polymer and a slippery lubricant in the interstitial region of metallic asperities, exhibit superior dynamic mineral fouling mitigation performance compared to SHS and conventional smooth surfaces. In addition, it is demonstrated that SIS is a far robust and durable choice when compared to LIS for use in the long run.

Superhydrophobic and lubricant-infused porous surfaces are two classes of non-wetting surfaces that are inspired by the adaptation of natural surfaces such as lotus leaves, pond skater legs, butterfly wings, and Nepenthes pitcher plant. This dissertation focuses on fabrication and in depth study of bioinspired functional metallic surfaces for applications such as power plant condensers and marine applications. Toward that, first, facile and scalable methods are developed for the fabrication of superhydrophobic surfaces (SHS) and lubricant-infused surfaces (LIS). Second, the corrosion inhibition mechanism of SHS was systematically studied and modeled via electrochemical methods to elucidate the role of superhydrophobicity and other parameters on corrosion inhibition. The anti-corrosion properties of SHS and LIS were systematically studied over a range of temperatures (23°C–90°C) to simulate an actual condenser environment. Moreover, the environment of application often involves using harsh cleaning chemicals. The fabricated non-wetting surfaces were examined over a wide range of acidity and basicity (pH=1 to pH=14). Third, the durability of SHS and LIS is systematically assessed using a set of testing protocols including water impingement tests, scratch wear tests, and accelerated chemical corrosion tests. Considering that industrial environments of application are often turbulent, in addition to static long term corrosion tests, long term dynamic durability was studied in a simulated turbulent condition. Fourth, the performance of the fabricated nonwetting surfaces was systematically studied against calcium sulfate scaling in turbulent conditions and different temperatures. An analytical relationship based on the Hill-Langmuir model is proposed for the prediction of fouling on nonwetting and conventional surfaces alike in dynamic conditions. Overall 1048 individual samples were studied via over 3000 measurements in this dissertation to establish a comprehensive fundamental knowledge base on fabrication and anti fouling characteristics of metallic nonwetting surfaces, which profoundly helps to design appropriate surfaces and fabrication methods based on the use environment. / Doctor of Philosophy / Metallic surfaces such as copper, brass, and aluminum are everywhere in our daily lives. From tumblers, household pipes to the bank of tubes in power plants condensers. Fouling of these surfaces has significant performance and economic impact. Scaling is a type of crystallization fouling like the familiar limescale everyone is familiar to see around the surface of a house kettle. Corrosion is another type of fouling and is detrimental to metallic surfaces. For example, 50% of water consumption in the U.S. is being used in thermo-electric power plants where fouling of metallic surfaces will impede the flow of working fluid, therefore increasing power needed for pumping, decrease efficiency, and decrease ultimate lifetime. One study in 2019 shows corrosion costs 3% of the gross national products of China and it is already known to be similar for other major economies like the USA, which is a hefty cost. Nature has inspired a lot of solutions for mankind. In this work, inspired by natural surfaces such as lotus leaves, butterfly wings, and pond skater legs, a class of superhydrophobic surfaces (SHS) was fabricated. Moreover, a closer look at how the complex human body puts everything in order exposes one of its most striking and essential characteristics: how wet and lubricated its interfaces are. Our lungs, eyes, joints, intestine, bones; either hairy or porous, all are lined wet surfaces that work as fouling inhibitors and defect free surfaces. This also have been observed elsewhere such as on Nepenthes pitcher plant. Inspired by these, another class of non-wetting surfaces, lubricant-infused surfaces (LIS) was fabricated. This dissertation for the first time investigates a rational methodology in the fabrication of metallic SHS and LIS and their anti-scaling and anti-corrosion properties in different environments of application, including a range of temperature (23°Câ€"90°C), various solutions (pH=1 to pH=14), and long-term static and dynamic (turbulent condition) durability. It is believed that this work would profoundly help to identify appropriate nonwetting metallic surfaces based on the intended use environment.

Nonwetting surfaces including superhydrophobic (SHS) and liquid infused surfaces (SLIPS) exhibit diverse exceptional characteristics promoting numerous application opportunities. Engineered textured surfaces demonstrate multiple features including drag reduction, fouling reduction, corrosion resistance, anti-fogging, anti-icing, and condensation enhancement. Integrating these properties, nonwetting surfaces have shown significant potential in improving the efficiency of energy applications. The first part of the thesis work aims at developing a fundamental mathematical understanding of the wetting process on the solid surface followed by presenting fabrication methodologies specifically focused on metallic substrates. The second part of this thesis presents an exhaustive survey on recent advancements and researches about features of nonwetting surfaces that could be implemented in major industrial applications. To establish how realistically these features could enhance the real-life applications, the third part of this work investigates the dynamic performance and economic benefits of using textured surfaces fabricated using an electrodeposition process for condenser tubes in thermoelectric power plants. The textured surfaces are expected to provide enhanced performance by deterring fouling and promoting dropwise condensation of the steam on the shell side. Using a thermal resistance network of a shell and tube condenser, detailed parametric studies are carried out to investigate the effect of various design parameters on the annual condenser performance measured in terms of its electric energy output of a representative 550 MW coal-fired power plant. A cost modeling tool and a new Levelized cost of condenser (LCOC) metric have been developed to evaluate the economic and performance benefits of enhanced condenser designs. The LCOC is defined as the ratio of the lifetime cost of the condenser (and associated costs such as coating, operation and maintenance) to the total electric energy produced by the thermoelectric power plant. The physical model is coupled with a numerical optimization method to identify the optimal design and operating parameters of the textured tubes that minimizes LCOC. Altogether, the study presents the first effort to construct and analyze enhanced condenser design with textured tube surfaces on annual thermoelectric power plant performance and compares it against the baseline condenser design with plain tubes. / Master of Science / Liquid repellant surfaces have attracted lots of attention due to their numerous promising characteristics including promoting condensation, drag reduction, prohibiting fouling/deposition, corrosion, and fog/dew harvesting. These attributes have the potential to inspire a variety of applications for these surfaces in power plants, automotive and aviation industries, oils/organic solvents clean-up, fuel cells, solar panels, membrane distillation, stone/concrete protection, surgical fabrics, and biological applications, to name a few. Some of these applications have reached their potential for real-life implementation and more are still at the research phase needing more experimental and fundamental studies to get them ready. The first part of this study presents the fundamentals of the wetting process. Next, fabrication methods for metallic surfaces have been explored to identify the most scalable and cost-effective approaches which could be administered in large scale industrial applications. A comprehensive review of recent publications on features of nonwetting surfaces has been carried out and presented in the second part of this thesis. To establish how realistically these features could enhance the real-life applications of a thermo-economic a performance model is developed for a powerplant condenser in the third section. Through a simple and cost-effective electrodeposition process, the common condenser tubes are modified to achieve textured tubes with superhydrophobic properties. The influence of using textured tubes on the plant's performance and its economic benefits are investigated to predict the potential promises of nonwetting surfaces.

The primary focus of this study is the reduction of sensitivity to contamination of the battery pack surfaces. During the project, information on adhesion mechanisms that cause particles to accumulate on surfaces has been collected through literature research. This has been done to create a fundamental understanding regarding the factors that affect dust and particle accumulation. In addition, an in-depth study of articles concerning the modification of surface structure has been carried out. In connection with the literature study, an experimental analysis was carried out where a number of surfaces provided by Scania were examined to understand their structure and properties. This was done in order to identify suitable surface treatments/methods that could be applied. The experimental results show that all the surfaces consist of only micro-level structures. Two of the samples showed increased risk for dust accumulation due to one of them having a step profile and the other having a wavy surface structure with peaks and valleys. Previous research suggests that surfaces that are structured on the micro- and nano-level are essential to achieve dust- and particle-free/repellent surfaces. By structuring surfaces at the micro- and nano-level, a so-called hierarchical structure inspired by the natural self-cleaning mechanisms of the lotus leaf can be achieved. This results in surfaces with a high water contact angle and low surface energy, which contribute to minimized adhesion forces and in turn particle repellent surfaces.

Cette thèse concerne l'étude de la dynamique d'impacts de gouttes, dans des situations de friction réduite entre le substrat solide et la goutte liquide. Cette diminution de friction s'est faite au moyen d'un film d'air inséré entre le liquide et le solide. Il existe plusieurs stratégies permettant l'existence de ce film d'air : la première est d'utiliser le phénomène de caléfaction, ou effet Leidenfrost : un liquide approché d'une surface chauffée au delà d'une température critique s'évapore suffisamment rapidement pour pouvoir léviter sur sa propre vapeur, et ainsi être isolé de la surface solide. Dans certaines conditions, les surfaces super-hydrophobes micro-texturées permettent au liquide de rester dans un état "fakir", c'est à dire de n'être en contact qu'avec le sommet de micro-piliers, le reste du liquide demeurant au dessus d'un coussin d'air. Enfin, il a également été constaté que l'écoulement d'air engendré par le mouvement d'une surface solide peut induire une force de portance sur une goutte, et ainsi lui permettre de léviter au dessus de cette surface / In this thesis we study the dynamic of drop impacts, in situations of low friction between the liquid and the solid surface. This low friction can be obtained thanks to an air cushion trapped between the liquid and the solid, which can be achieved by several ways. The first one is the Leidenfrost effect : when a liquid is moved close to a hot surface, the evaparation rate can be sufficient make liquid levitate on its own vapour. In certain conditions, onto micro-patterned super-hydrophobic surfaces, a drop can be in a "fakir" state, which means that the contact is limited to the top of micro-pillars, the rest of the liquid is at the top of an air cushion. Finally, we also observed that the air flow due to a moving surface can generate a lift force which can permit the levitation of the drop

The potential use of renewable, bio-based polymers in high-technological applications has attracted great interest due to increased environmental concern. Cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer resource in the world, and it has great potential to be modified to suit new application areas. The development of controlled polymerization techniques, such as atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), has made it possible to graft well-defined polymers from cellulose surfaces. In this study, graft-modification of cellulose substrates by ATRP was explored as a tool for tailoring surface properties and for the fabrication of functional cellulose surfaces. Various native and regenerated cellulose substrates were successfully graft-modified to investigate the effect of surface morphology on the grafting reactions. It was found that significantly denser polymer brushes were grafted from the native than from the regenerated cellulose substrates, most likely due to differences in surface area. A method for detaching the grafted polymer from the substrate was developed, based on the selective cleavage of silyl ether bonds with tetrabutylammonium fluoride. The results from the performed kinetic study suggest that the surface-initiated polymerization of methyl methacrylate from cellulose proceeds faster than the concurrent solution polymerization at low monomer conversions, but slows down to match the kinetics of the solution polymerization at higher conversions. Superhydrophobic and self-cleaning bio-fiber surfaces were obtained by grafting of glycidyl methacrylate using a branched graft-on-graft architecture, followed by post-functionalization to obtain fluorinated polymer brushes. AFM analysis showed that the surface had a micro-nano-binary structure. It was also found that superhydrophobic surfaces could be achieved by post-functionalization with an alkyl chain, with no use of fluorine. Thermo-responsive cellulose surfaces have been prepared by graft-modification with the stimuli responsive polymer poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm). Brushes of poly(4-vinylpyridine) (P4VP) rendered a pH-responsive cellulose surface. Dual-responsive cellulose surfaces were achieved by grafting block-copolymers of PNIPAAm and P4VP. / QC 20100804

Poly(vinylidene) fluoride (PVDF) nano-composite membranes were prepared. The dope solution contained varied concentrations of superhydrophobic SiO2 nano-particles. The fabricated flat sheet membranes were characterized extensively by SEM, FTIR, water contact angle, LEPw, surface roughness, pore size diameter and pore size distribution. The effect of the nano-particles on the membrane performance was then analysed. The nano-composite membranes showed increased surface pore diameter, elevated water contact angle measurements with lower LEPw when compared to the neat membrane. The 7 wt. % nano-composite membrane showed the greatest flux in a VMD process with 2.9 kg/m2.h flux achieved accounting to a 4 fold increase when compared to the neat membrane. Desalination test were carried out using a 35 g/L synthetic salt water and rejection >99.98% was obtained. The best performing nano-composite dope solution (7 wt. %) was then further treated for performance enhancement by increasing the water content to increase pore size and pore size distribution followed by coating with nano-fibres. The uncoated and coated flat sheets, were characterized by SEM, surface roughness, LEPw and CAw. Flux analysis showed that the increase in water content had little effects on the VMD flux. It also suggests that; the nano-fibre layer posed very little resistance to mass transfer. A comparison of VMD and DCMD was also done experimentally.