Designing Flexible but Tough Slippery Track for Underwater Gas Manipulation

Various insects can entrap and stabilize air plastrons and bubbles underwater. When these bubbles interact with surfaces underwater, they create air capillary bridges that de-wet surfaces and even allow underwater reversible adhesion. In this study, a robotic arm with interchangeable three-dimensional (3D)-printed bubble-stabilizing units is used to create air capillary bridges underwater for manipulation of small objects. Particles of various sizes and shapes, thin sheets and substrates of diverse surface tensions, from hydrophilic to superhydrophobic, can be lifted, transported, placed, and oriented using one- or two-dimensional arrays of bubbles. Underwater adhesion, derived from the air capillary bridges, is quantified depending on the number, arrangement, and size of bubbles and the contact angle of the counter surface. This includes a variety of commercially available materials and chemically modified surfaces. Overall, it is possible to manipulate millimeter- to sub-millimeter-scale objects underwater. This includes cleaning submerged surfaces from colloids and arbitrary contaminations, folding thin sheets to create three-dimensional structures, and precisely placing and aligning objects of various geometries. The robotic underwater manipulator can be used for automation and control in cell culture experiments, lab-on-chip devices, and manipulation of objects underwater. It offers the ability to control the transport and release of small objects without the need for chemical adhesives, suction-based adhesion, anchoring devices, or grabbers.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Automated Manipulation of Miniature Objects Underwater Using Air Capillary Bridges: Pick-and-Place, Surface Cleaning, and Underwater Origami

Weinstein

Gilon

Filc

et al. 2022

“…The single bubble, meanwhile, could slide easily with an ultralow contact angle hysteresis due to the inert slippery liquid interface . As a more reliable and stable bioinspired functional wetting surface, SLIPS with a broad prospect of gas bubble and droplet manipulations have attracted the attention of researchers. − For example, Yu et al reported directional bubble transport on the single crook-shaped SLIPS track . Li and Guo investigated the evolution of bubble shapes on stripe-shaped SLIPS and found that the bubble shapes changed during the directional transport on a wedge-shaped slippery surface .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficient Bubble Transport on Bioinspired Topological Ultraslippery Surfaces

Zhuang

Yang

Dai

2021

Slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPS) with micro-/nanostructures inspired by the Nepenthes pitcher plant exhibit excellent characteristics in terms of liquid repellency, selfhealing, pressure tolerance, and so forth. In particular, stable bubble transport on SLIPS can be achieved when the surface is submerged in water. However, more precise and sophisticated bubble manipulations on SLIPS still remain challenging. In this research, a three-dimensional topological SLIPS combined with a submillimeter rice leaf-like groove array is fabricated to guide the underwater bubble motion precisely. The dynamic behavior and wetting state of bubbles on SLIPS were investigated experimentally. Furthermore, topological SLIPS with different geometric textures were designed and created for sophisticated bubble manipulations, such as fast bubble directional transport and collection. The results indicated that a lubricant with low surface tension and low viscosity could improve the adhesion force to bubbles and the transport velocity of bubbles, simultaneously. The current findings are helpful to deepen the cognition of interaction between bubbles and SLIPS and to promote their wide applications in the field of smart bubble manipulation and catalytic chemistry.

“…Realizing flexible manipulation of bubbles is crucial for both academic research and industrial settings, such as gaseous microreactions, organic degradation, sewage treatment, undersea gas mining, hydrogen production, and biological respiration. , Conventional strategies of bubble control are mainly based on the assistance of buoyancy, − or the cooperation of wetting driving force and the Laplace pressure generated from substrate’s morphology. − For instance, Jiang et al proposed a Janus membrane for unidirectional penetration of underwater bubbles by femtosecond laser-assisted ablation and nanoparticle deposition . Yu et al reported a sliced lubricant-infused slippery track that could cooperatively possess flexibility and toughness for reliable bubble manipulation . Recently, it has been reported that smart stimuli-responsive functional surfaces (e.g., light, magnetic field, heat) are frequently reported in bubble manipulation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gas bubbles are ubiquitous in natural environments and living organisms. Realizing flexible manipulation of bubbles is crucial for both academic research and industrial settings, such as gaseous microreactions, 1 organic degradation, 2 sewage treatment, 3 undersea gas mining, 4 hydrogen production, and biological respiration. 5,6 Conventional strategies of bubble control are mainly based on the assistance of buoyancy, 7−10 or the cooperation of wetting driving force and the Laplace pressure generated from substrate's morphology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…16 Yu et al reported a sliced lubricant-infused slippery track that could cooperatively possess flexibility and toughness for reliable bubble manipulation. 4 Recently, it has been reported that smart stimuli-responsive functional surfaces (e.g., light, magnetic field, heat) are frequently reported in bubble manipulation. For example, Dai et al reported an organic chip that could generate or absorb bubbles under laser irradiation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Biomimetic Mechanoswitchable Interfaces for High-Performance Spatial Gas Bubble Maneuvering

Zhu³

et al. 2021

The on-demand manipulation of gas bubbles in aqueous ambient environments is fundamental to many fields such as microfluidics and biochemical microanalysis. However, most bubble manipulation strategies are limited to restricted locomotion on the confined surfaces without spatial convenience of transport. Herein, we report a kind of biomimetic bubble manipulator with mechanoswitchable interfaces (MSIs), featuring the advantages of parallel bubble control and spatial maneuvering flexibility. By the synergic action between Janus aluminum membrane and superaerophilic microfiber array, the gas–MSI interfacial adhesion can be reversibly switched to achieve capturing/releasing underwater bubbles. Moreover, the adhesion force of MSI can be readily tuned by diverse experimental parameters including surface roughness, fiber number, diameter, and spacing of the neighboring microfibers, which are further systematically investigated. Relying on this mobile platform, we demonstrate a series of powerful applications including bubble parallel control, bubble array regrouping, arbitrary bubble transport and even manipulating underwater solids through bubbles, which are otherwise challenging for conventional approaches. We envision that this versatile platform will bring new insights into potential applications, such as cross-species sample control and handheld gas microsyringe.