A comprehensive review of boiling heat transfer characteristics of wettability patterned surface

•The preparation methods for amphiphilic surfaces are divided into template coating, conventional photolithography, and laser texturing.•‘Hydrophobic island’ mode effectively enhances both CHF and HTC.•Patterns close to blunt circles are more conducive to CHF, and pronounced contrast of wettability between adjacent patterns is advantageous for enhancing HTC.•Capillary criterion is equally applicable to biphilic surfaces.•The biphilic surface has the potential to suppress intermittent boiling. In recent years, studies on patterned surfaces with different local wettabilities have emerged and developed. A number of peculiar structures are the most promising topographic ones in simultaneously enhancing CHF and HTC due to their high efficiency, and compatibility with other strengthening methods. Many studies have attempted to explore the optimal expression of wettability patterned surfaces for preparation of a boiling surface, pattern design, wettability, and diverse combination. There are hundreds of relevant literature works, and a comprehensive analysis and summary is required. This article first provides a detailed introduction to the manufacturing processes of these engineering surfaces, which are technically divided into wettability acquisition and pattern combination methods. It continues with different factors affecting surface boiling and the unique bubbling attributes which led to these differences. A review of visualization studies aims at providing an analytical basis for these effects. Finally, this article summarizes the prediction models and proposes challenges which confront future research works. This work provides a comprehensive introduction to the most recent research on wettability patterned surfaces.