Bioinspired Lubricated Slippery Magnetic Responsive Microplate Array for High Performance Multi‐Substance Transport

Abstract

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.

Bioinspired Wire-on-Pillar Magneto-Responsive Superhydrophobic Arrays

“…The prefabricated pillar arrays served as a template to produce well-ordered, high-aspect-ratio, sparse, iron-laden structures, leading to excellent flexibility and synchronous deflection in response to a magnetic field. In the future, wire-on-pillar arrays with more complex configurations (e.g., wires are horizontally planted on a pillar) and various modifications using functional materials, e.g., nanoparticles and lubricants, − will be investigated.…”

Multiple-Droplet Selective Manipulation Enabled by Laser-Textured Hydrophobic Magnetism-Responsive Slanted Micropillar Arrays with an Ultrafast Reconfiguration Rate

“…As demonstrated in Figure f, the maximum volume ( V max ) of droplets that can be transported by the MSMA gradually decreases from 185 to 15 μL as the velocity increases from 10 to 80 mm/s. According to the previous work, − droplet transport can be precisely controlled within a certain range of transport speed. However, when the transport speed is too fast, the droplet can be out of step due to the inertia, resulting in motion failure.…”

Bioinspired superwetting materials for water manipulation

“…When the magnetic field was removed, the slippery gel surface recovered to a flat and smooth state and thus the pinned water droplet was released leading to controllable sliding behavior. Shao et al 149 designed a lubricated slippery magnetic‐responsive microplate array (LS‐MMA) with triple bioinspired features (fish scales, Nepenthes peristome, and respiratory cilia). MMA was fabricated by femtosecond laser writing and PDMS molding (Figure 15e1).…”

“…(e, e1) Schematic of the fabrication process of the lubricated slippery magnetic‐responsive microplate array (LS‐MMA); (e2) Optical images of the water transport on the LS‐MMA surface induced by the magnetic field. Reprinted with permission from Shao et al 149 Copyright 2022, WILEY‐VCH. (f) Schematic illustration of the preparation procedure of MPRS and the magnetic‐thermal and photothermal responsive processes of the liquid drop movement.…”