摘要
Thewater-conductingnetworkofcapillariesinvascularplantshasevolvedoverhundredsofmillionsofyearsinordertobeabletocopewithbubbleclogging,aproblemwhichalsoaffectsmodernmicrofluidicdevices.Decadesofanatomicalstudieshaverevealedthatplantsgrowinginhabitatsinwhichtheformationofbubbles,oremboli,islikelytobeafrequentoccurrenceoftenhavevariousformsofgeometricalsculpturingontheinternalsurfacesofthexylemconduits.Thepossiblefunctionofsuchwallsculpturinghaslongbeenthesubjectofspeculation.Wehaveinvestigatedthehypothesisthatwallsculpturingisafunctionaladaptationdesignedtoincreasethewettabilityofthewallsofxylemconduits,aneffectwhichcouldbedescribedastheinverseofthewell-knownlotus-effect.Ourresultsshowthatwallsculpturingdoesenhancewettability.Importantly,theoreticalcalculationsrevealthatthegeometricparametersofvarioustypesofwallsculpturingaresuchthattheresultingsurfacesaresufficientlyroughtoenhancewettability,butnotsignificantlyrougher.Theresultsprovideanappealinganswertothelong-standingdebateonthefunctionofwallsculpturinginxylemconduits,andmayprovidebiomimeticcluesfornewapproachestotheremovalofbubblesinmicrofluidicchannels.
出版日期
2009年04月14日（中国期刊网平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）
