Zhang Yage, Cui Huanqing, Binks Bernard P, Shum Ho Cheung
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam 999077, Hong Kong, China.
Advanced Biomedical Instrumentation Centre, Hong Kong Science Park, Shatin 999077, Hong Kong, China.
Langmuir. 2022 Aug 16;38(32):9721-9740. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.2c01127. Epub 2022 Aug 2.
The study of liquid marbles (LMs) composed of stabilizing liquid droplets with solid particles in a gaseous environment has matured into an established area in surface and colloid science. The minimized "solid-liquid-air" triphase interface enables LMs to drastically reduce adhesion to a solid substrate, making them unique non-wetting droplets transportable with limited energy. The small volume, enclosed environment, and simple preparation render them suitable microreactors in industrial applications and processes such as cell culture, material synthesis, and blood coagulation. Extensive application contexts request precise and highly efficient manipulations of these non-wetting droplets. Many external fields, including magnetic, acoustic, photothermal, and pH, have emerged to prepare, deform, actuate, coalesce, mix, and disrupt these non-wetting droplets. Electric fields are rising among these external stimuli as an efficient source for manipulating the LMs with high controllability and a significant ability to contribute further to proposed applications. This Feature Article attempts to outline the recent developments related to LMs with the aid of electric fields. The effects of electric fields on the preparation and manipulation of LMs with intricate interfacial processes are discussed in detail. We highlight a wealth of novel electric field-involved LM-based applications and beyond while also envisaging the challenges, opportunities, and new directions for future development in this emerging research area.
对由气态环境中带有固体颗粒的稳定液滴组成的液滴弹珠（LMs）的研究，已发展成为表面和胶体科学领域的一个成熟领域。最小化的“固 - 液 - 气”三相界面使液滴弹珠能够大幅降低对固体基质的附着力，使其成为具有独特非润湿性且能以有限能量运输的液滴。小体积、封闭环境和简单的制备方法使其成为细胞培养、材料合成和血液凝固等工业应用和过程中合适的微反应器。广泛的应用场景要求对这些非润湿性液滴进行精确且高效的操控。包括磁性、声学、光热和pH等在内的许多外部场已被用于制备、变形、驱动、聚结、混合和破坏这些非润湿性液滴。在这些外部刺激中，电场作为一种高效的源正在兴起，用于以高可控性操控液滴弹珠，并具有为所提出的应用做出进一步贡献的显著能力。这篇专题文章试图借助电场概述与液滴弹珠相关的最新进展。详细讨论了电场对具有复杂界面过程的液滴弹珠的制备和操控的影响。我们重点介绍了大量涉及电场的基于液滴弹珠的新颖应用及其他应用，同时也设想了这一新兴研究领域未来发展所面临的挑战、机遇和新方向。
