School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China.
CAS Key Laboratory of Bio-inspired Materials and Interfacial Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.
Adv Mater. 2017 Dec;29(45). doi: 10.1002/adma.201702995. Epub 2017 Aug 7.
The slippery peristome of the pitcher plant Nepenthes has attracted much attention due to its unique function for preying on insects. Recent findings on the peristome surface of Nepenthes alata demonstrate a fast and continuous unidirectional liquid transport, which is enabled by the combination of a pinning effect at the sharp edges and a capillary rise in the wedge, deriving from the multiscale structure, which provides inspiration for designing and fabricating functional surfaces for unidirectional liquid transport. Developments in the fabrication methods of peristome-inspired surfaces and control methods for liquid transport are summarized. Both potential applications in the fields of microfluidic devices, biomedicine, and mechanical engineering and directions for further research in the future are discussed.
猪笼草瓶口边缘的滑动性因其在捕食昆虫方面的独特功能而受到广泛关注。最近对猪笼草瓶口表面的研究发现，其具有快速且连续的单向液体传输功能，这得益于在尖锐边缘的钉扎效应和楔形物中毛细上升的结合，这种结合源自多尺度结构，为设计和制造用于单向液体传输的功能表面提供了灵感。本文总结了猪笼草瓶口启发式表面的制造方法的发展和液体传输控制方法。讨论了它们在微流控装置、生物医学和机械工程等领域的潜在应用以及未来进一步研究的方向。
