William G. Lowrie Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA.
Davidson School of Chemical Engineering, Purdue Center for Cancer Research, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.
Adv Mater. 2022 Apr;34(14):e2110085. doi: 10.1002/adma.202110085. Epub 2022 Feb 24.
Biomimetic artificial surfaces that enable the manipulation of gas bubble mobility have been explored in a wide range of applications in nanomaterial synthesis, surface defouling, biomedical diagnostics, and therapeutics. Although many superhydrophobic surfaces and isotropic-lubricant-infused porous surfaces have been developed to manipulate gas bubbles, the simultaneous control over the adhesion and transport of gas bubbles underwater remains a challenge. Thermotropic liquid crystals (LCs), a class of structured fluids, provide an opportunity to tune the behavior of gas bubbles through LC mesophase transitions using a variety of external stimuli. Using this central idea, the design and synthesis of LC-infused porous surfaces (LCIPS) is reported and the effects of the LC mesophase on the transport and adhesion of gas bubbles on LCIPS immersed in water elucidated. LCIPS are demonstrated to be a promising class of surfaces with an unprecedented level of responsiveness and functionality, which enables the design of cyanobacteria-inspired object movement, smart catalysts, and bubble gating devices to sense and sort volatile organic compounds and control oxygen levels in biomimetic cell cultures.
仿生人工表面能够控制气泡的迁移，在纳米材料合成、表面防污、生物医学诊断和治疗等广泛的应用中得到了探索。尽管已经开发出许多超疏水表面和各向同性润滑剂注入多孔表面来控制气泡，但在水下同时控制气泡的附着和输运仍然是一个挑战。热致液晶（LC）作为一类结构流体，为通过各种外部刺激利用 LC 介相转变来调节气泡行为提供了机会。基于这一核心思想，设计并合成了 LC 注入多孔表面（LCIPS），并阐明了 LC 介相对 LCIPS 上气泡的输运和附着的影响。LCIPS 被证明是一类具有前所未有的响应性和功能性的表面，能够设计出受蓝藻启发的物体运动、智能催化剂和气泡门控装置，以感测和分类挥发性有机化合物，并控制仿生细胞培养物中的氧气水平。
