Yong Jiale, Li Xinlei, Hu Youdi, Wang Yiming, Peng Yubin, Chen Zhenrui, Zhang Yachao, Zhu Suwan, Wang Chaowei, Wu Dong
CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, Department of Precision Machinery and Precision Instrumentation, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230027, People's Republic of China.
Nano Lett. 2024 Jun 12;24(23):7116-7124. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c01953. Epub 2024 Jun 4.
Controllable droplet manipulation has diverse applications; however, limited methods exist for externally manipulating droplets in confined spaces. Herein, we propose a portable triboelectric electrostatic tweezer (TET) by integrating electrostatic forces with a superhydrophobic surface that can even manipulate droplets in an enclosed space. Electrostatic induction causes the droplet to be subjected to an electrostatic force in an electrostatic field so that the droplet can be moved freely with the TET on a superhydrophobic platform. Characterized by its high precision, flexibility, and robust binding strength, TET can manipulate droplets under various conditions and achieve a wide range of representative fluid applications such as droplet microreactors, precise self-cleaning, cargo transportation, the targeted delivery of chemicals, liquid sorting, soft droplet robotics, and cell labeling. Specifically, TET demonstrated the ability to manipulate internal droplets from the outside of a closed system, such as performing cell labeling experiments within a sealed Petri dish without opening the culture system.
可控液滴操纵具有多种应用；然而，在受限空间中从外部操纵液滴的方法有限。在此，我们通过将静电力与超疏水表面相结合，提出了一种便携式摩擦静电镊子（TET），它甚至可以在封闭空间中操纵液滴。静电感应使液滴在静电场中受到静电力作用，从而使液滴能够在超疏水平台上通过TET自由移动。TET具有高精度、灵活性和强大的结合强度，能够在各种条件下操纵液滴，并实现广泛的代表性流体应用，如液滴微反应器、精确自清洁、货物运输、化学物质的靶向递送、液体分选、软液滴机器人技术和细胞标记。具体而言，TET展示了从封闭系统外部操纵内部液滴的能力，例如在不打开培养系统的情况下在密封培养皿内进行细胞标记实验。
