In nature, many organisms have the ability to transport substances, such as bubbles, droplets, or solids, on demand to meet their survival needs. Inspired by these distinct behaviors, a variety of substance transport strategies have been developed for promising applications in microfluidics, microelectronics, and biomedicine. However, it is still challenging to achieve versatile multi‐substance (gas, liquid, and solid) transport. In this work, a triple‐biologically inspired lubricated slippery magnetic‐responsive microplate array (LS‐MMA) by integrating the characteristics of fish scales, Nepenthes peristome, and respiratory cilia is proposed for multi‐substance transport. Under the actuation of the moving magnetic field, the microplates bend and overlap sequentially to form a continuous slippery surface with large curvature. With the continuous motion of the slippery surface, active multi‐substance transport can be realized. The transport speed of the bubbles, droplets, and solid glass balls can reach ≈5, ≈14, and ≈80 mm s−1, respectively. By virtue of the lubricant's capillary sticking property to the substance, the LS‐MMA also realizes 3D on‐demand transport of bubbles and droplets. The LS‐MMA‐based multi‐substance transport strategy improves the applicability and flexibility of target manipulation and has a broad potential application in the fields of microchemical reactions and biomedical engineering.
Manipulation of droplets has increasingly garnered global attention, owing to its multifarious potential applications, including microfluidics and medical diagnostic tests. To control the droplet motion, geometry-gradient-based passive transport has emerged as a well-established strategy, which induces a Laplace pressure difference based on the droplet radius differences in confined state and transport droplets with no consumption of external energy, whereas this transportation method has inevitably shown some critical limitations: unidirectionality, uncontrollability, short moving distance, and low velocity. Herein, a magnetocontrollable lubricant-infused microwall array (MLIMA) is designed as a key solution to this issue. In the absence of a magnetic field, droplets can spontaneously travel from the tip toward the root of the structure as a result of the geometry-gradient-induced Laplace pressure difference. When the subject of an external magnetic field, the microwalls bend and overlap sequentially, ultimately resulting in the formation of a continuous slippery meniscus surface. The formed meniscus surface can exert sufficient propulsive force to surmount the Laplace pressure difference of the droplet, thereby effectuating active transport. Through the continuous movement of the microwalls, droplets can be actively transported against the Laplace pressure difference from the root to the tip side of the MLIMA or continue to actively move to the root after finishing the passive self-transport. This work demonstrates passive/active hybrid bidirectional droplet transport capabilities, validates its feasibility in the accurate control of droplet manipulation, and exhibits great potential in chemical microreactions, bioassays, and the medical field.
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