Key Laboratory of Bio-inspired Smart Interface Sciences, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhongguancun East Road, 29, 100190, Beijing, P.R. China.
School of Chemistry and Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yuquan Road, 100049, Beijing, P.R. China.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2016 Nov 21;55(48):14988-14992. doi: 10.1002/anie.201607514. Epub 2016 Sep 21.
Liquid uni-directional transport on solid surface without energy input would advance a variety of applications, such as in bio-fluidic devices, self-lubrication, and high-resolution printing. Inspired by the liquid uni-directional transportation on the peristome surface of Nepenthes alata, here, we fabricated a peristome-mimicking surface through high-resolution stereo-lithography and demonstrated the detailed uni-directional transportation mechanism from a micro-scaled view visualized through X-ray microscopy. Significantly, an overflow-controlled liquid uni-directional transportation mechanism is proposed and demonstrated. Unlike the canonical predictions for completely wetting liquids spreading symmetrically on a high-energy surface, liquids with varied surface tensions and viscosities can spontaneously propagate in a single preferred direction and pin in all others. The fundamental understanding gained from this robust system enabled us to tailor advanced micro-computerized tomography scanning and stereo-lithography fabrication to mimic natural creatures and construct a wide variety of fluidic machines out of traditional materials.
在无需能量输入的情况下实现液体在固体表面的单向传输，将推动多种应用的发展，例如在生物流体装置、自润滑和高分辨率打印等领域。受猪笼草瓶口表面液体单向输运的启发，我们通过高分辨率立体光刻技术制造了一种类瓶口表面，并通过 X 射线显微镜可视化的微观尺度观察，演示了详细的单向输运机制。值得注意的是，我们提出并验证了一种溢流控制的液体单向输运机制。与完全润湿液体在高能表面上对称扩展的经典预测不同，具有不同表面张力和黏度的液体可以自发地沿单一优选方向传播，并在其他方向上被阻止。从这个稳健的系统中获得的基本认识，使我们能够对先进的微计算机断层扫描和立体光刻制造进行定制，以模拟自然生物，并利用传统材料构建各种流体机械。
