Abstract
The effective transfer of tiny liquid droplets is vital for a number of processes such as chemical and biological microassays. Inspired by the tarsi of meniscus-climbing insects, which can climb menisci by deforming the water/air interface, we developed a mechano-regulated surface consisting of a background mesh and a movable microfibre array with contrastive wettability. The adhesion of this mechano-regulated surface to liquid droplets can be reversibly switched through mechanical reconfiguration of the microfibre array. The adhesive force can be tuned by varying the number and surface chemistry of the microfibres. The in situ adhesion of the mechano-regulated surface can be used to manoeuvre micro-/nanolitre liquid droplets in a nearly loss-free manner. The mechano-regulated surface can be scaled up to handle multiple droplets in parallel. Our approach offers a miniaturized mechano-device with switchable adhesion for handling micro-/nanolitre droplets, either in air or in a fluid that is immiscible with the droplets.
Highlights
The effective transfer of tiny liquid droplets is vital for a number of processes such as chemical and biological microassays
Superhydrophobic surfaces with specific liquid adhesion properties have been developed based on responsive materials, for example[19,20,21]
To prevent wicking of the liquid droplets (Supplementary Note 2 and Supplementary Fig. 2), we covered the mesh with a superhydrophobic coating consisting of graphene nanoplatelets and polydimethylsiloxane
Summary
The effective transfer of tiny liquid droplets is vital for a number of processes such as chemical and biological microassays. Inspired by the tarsi of meniscus-climbing insects, which can climb menisci by deforming the water/air interface, we developed a mechanoregulated surface consisting of a background mesh and a movable microfibre array with contrastive wettability The adhesion of this mechano-regulated surface to liquid droplets can be reversibly switched through mechanical reconfiguration of the microfibre array. Superhydrophobic surfaces with specific liquid adhesion properties have been developed based on responsive materials, for example[19,20,21] Their interfacial chemistry and roughness change in response to external stimuli such as pH, light and temperature to alter the mobility of droplets[19,20,21]. To depart for land, they distort the water’s surface by using their hydrophilic claws and thereby gain the lateral capillary force necessary to enable them to ascend the meniscus slope at the water’s edge[25]
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