Significant reduction in droplet ejection for terminal velocity impact using a combination of superhydrophilic & superhydrophobic sieve

Superhydrophobic meshes provide a unique structure that can be used to develop rain-repellent air-transparent surfaces. It is however a significant challenge to stop water ejection from these meshes having submillimetre pores when droplets impact them at terminal velocities (V
_D
~8m/s). In this work, we have studied the relative velocities of the jets ejected from nanostructured meshes having different geometries and wettabilities. Based on our study we demonstrate a combination of superhydrophilic-superhydrophobic copper mesh which leads to less than 6×10
^-4
% liquid ejection for impact of 20 droplets at terminal velocity.