hydrophilic

The world of science and technology has many fascinating terms, and one of them is “hydrophilia.” The word “hydrophilia” comes from Greek and is made up of two parts: “ὕδωρ” (hydor/“hydros”), which means “water”, and “φιλος” (phílos), which means “loving”. In summary, hydrophilicity means “loving water”. But what exactly does that mean in practice?

When we talk about a hydrophilic substance, we mean that this substance has the property of attracting water. This is in contrast to hydrophobicity, where substances repel water. Hydrophilic substances can occur, for example, in nature, in industrial products or in medicine. They play a crucial role in numerous applications and processes.

A hydrophilic surface of a solid has a high surface energy. This means that when water hits such a surface, it spreads across it and does not remain in droplet form. This can be particularly useful when it comes to distributing liquids evenly across a surface, for example in certain types of coatings or in microfluidics.

Knowing whether a substance is hydrophilic or hydrophobic can be beneficial in many areas.