Contact angles and wettability: towardsrncommon and accurate terminology

摘要

Much interest has recently been focused on contact angles, wetting and non-wettable surfaces as is evidenced byrnthe rapid pace and sheer number of papers published in recent years. However, in many cases there existrnmisconceptions and misuses of terminology, leading to misinterpretation of experimental contact angles,rnmeasurements of which deceptively appear to be simple. Terms describing contact angles, wettability,rnsuperhydrophobicity and similar other terminology are loosely used. In this contribution, key terms used in relationrnto contact angles are defined precisely based on the accumulative knowledge from the surface chemistry communityrnover the last decades. The definitions provided are scientifically rigorous to avoid any ambiguity and confusion. Therntheoretical considerations underlying these definitions are only briefly mentioned, with references to the relevantrnpapers. Interpretation and meaning of the measured contact angles can be made simpler if the basic concepts arernclearly understood and theory-based indications are applied. The clarity of definitions should make datarninterpretation and comparison easier for future contributions to journals, including this journal.