University of Illinois

George Barac

Leslie William Bolton

Nenad Miljkovic

Soumyadip Sett

A heat and mass transfer component comprises a lubricant-impregnated surface including hydrophobic surface features, which comprise nanostructured surface protrusions having a hydrophobic species attached thereto. The hydrophobic surface features are impregnated with a fluorinated lubricant having a viscosity in a range from about 400 mPa&#xb7;s to about 6000 mPa&#xb7;s. A method of fabricating a lubricant-impregnated surface on a heat and mass transfer component comprises: cleaning a thermally conductive substrate to form a cleaned substrate; exposing the cleaned substrate to a hot water or hot alkaline solution to form a thermally conductive substrate having nanostructured surface protrusions; depositing a hydrophobic species on the nanostructured surface protrusions to form hydrophobic surface features; and coating the hydrophobic surface features with a fluorinated lubricant having a viscosity in a range from 400 mPa&#xb7;s to 6000 mPa&#xb7;s. The heat and mass transfer component may exhibit a substantial increase in heat transfer coefficient during hydrocarbon condensation.

Growing community of inventors

Saint Charles, IL, United States of America

George Barac