Rapid spread, slow evaporation: a long-lasting water film on hydrogel nanowire arrays for continuous wearables
Peijia Li, Yilin Wang, Ming Qiu, Yixiao Wang, Zhaoxiang Lu, Jianning Yu, Fan Xia, Yun Feng, Ye Tian
Abstract
remains a challenge. Herein, inspired by a healthy ocular surface, we biomimetically construct a hybrid surface featuring mucin-like hydrophilic layer@hydrogel nanowire arrays (HL@HNWs). A droplet (2 μL) rapidly spreads into a thin film, stabilizing for ∼10 minutes, whereas the contrast sample rapidly ruptures and dewets within 1 minute. We demonstrate that enhancing the proportion of hydrated water (HW), which includes intermediate water (IW) and bound water (BW), and introducing the capillary resistance of the nanowire arrays could synergistically stabilize the water film and improve the wettability. Hydrogel-based nanowire array contact lenses can ensure wettability during continuous wear, and a stable water film can substantially improve comfort and provide superior visual quality.