Stimulus Responsive Remotely Rupturable Adhesive Marbles Realized through a Hybrid Nanoparticle Concept.

Abstract

Adhesive marbles, an innovative concept derived from liquid marble technology that is "remotely breakable on demand" by external stimuli, offer diverse application prospects. Therefore, a chemically linked superomniphobic hybrid perfluorinated carbon black-silica nanoparticle (PCBSN) was realized by functionalizing surface groups and used for encapsulating adhesives. PCBSN successfully encapsulated liquids and adhesives to form water (WM, contact angle 158°), epoxy (EM, contact angle 145°), and silicone (SM, contact angle 135°) marbles, regardless of the surface tension and polarity. Studies on the interface characteristics revealed that the work performed for marble formation maintained an inverse relationship with the surface energy of particles and the surface tension of encapsulated liquids. The marble formation energy was determined to be higher for EM (1.071 × 10-17 J) and lower for SM (0.946 × 10-17 J). Upon exposure to laser, marbles showed a rapid photothermal response, and the heat transferability on the surface of marbles followed the order SM > EM > WM. The marbles were remotely rupturable by regulating the applied laser power, with breaking time being tunable from <10 to 500 s. The photothermal efficiency (%) of marbles can be graded as good and falls in the range of 88.6 × 10-3 (EM) and 162.9 × 10-3 (SM) at 1.5 W laser power. The marbles possessed high mechanical integrity and repeated cyclability before breaking on the rolling impact test. These adhesive marbles formed from PCBSNs may represent attractive candidates for such applications as "bonding from a distance" through remote means.