Liquid Marble Patchwork on Super‐Repellent Surface

Abstract

AbstractLiquid marble (LM) is a droplet that is wrapped by hydrophobic solid particles, which behave as a non‐wetting soft solid. Based on these properties, LM can be applied in fluidics and soft device applications. A wide variety of functional particles have been synthesized to form functional LMs. However, the formation of multifunctional LMs by integrating several types of functional particles is challenging. Here, a general strategy for the flexible patterning of functional particles on droplet surfaces in a patchwork‐like design is reported. It is shown that LMs can switch their macroscopic behavior between a stable and active state on super‐repellent surfaces in situ by jamming/unjamming the surface particles. Active LMs hydrostatically coalesce to form a self‐sorted particle pattern on the droplet surface. With the support of LM handling robotics, on‐demand cyclic activation–manipulation–coalescence–stabilization protocols by LMs with different sizes and particle types result in the reliable design of multi‐faced LMs. Based on this concept, a single bi‐functional LM is designed from two mono‐functional LMs as an advanced droplet carrier.