Wu Zhuhao, Sun Lingyu, Chen Hanxu, Zhao Yuanjin
Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.
Oujiang Laboratory (Zhejiang Lab for Regenerative Medicine, Vision and Brain Health), Wenzhou Institute, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wenzhou, Zhejiang 325001, China.
Research (Wash D C). 2023 Dec 6;6:0263. doi: 10.34133/research.0263. eCollection 2023.
The controllable manipulation and transfer of droplets are fundamental in a wide range of chemical reactions and even life processes. Herein, we present a novel, universal, and straightforward acoustic approach to fabricating biomimetic surfaces for on-demand droplet manipulations like many natural creatures. Based on the capillary waves induced by surface acoustic waves, various polymer films could be deformed into pre-designed structures, such as parallel grooves and grid-like patterns. These structured and functionalized surfaces exhibit impressive ability in droplet transportation and water collection, respectively. Besides these static surfaces, the tunability of acoustics could also endow polymer surfaces with dynamic controllability for droplet manipulations, including programming wettability, mitigating droplet evaporation, and accelerating chemical reactions. Our approach is capable of achieving universal surface manufacturing and droplet manipulation simultaneously, which simplifies the fabrication process and eliminates the need for additional chemical modifications. Thus, we believe that our acoustic-derived surfaces and technologies could provide a unique perspective for various applications, including microreactor integration, biochemical reaction control, tissue engineering, and so on.
液滴的可控操纵和转移在广泛的化学反应甚至生命过程中至关重要。在此，我们提出了一种新颖、通用且直接的声学方法，用于制造仿生表面，以实现像许多自然生物那样按需进行液滴操纵。基于表面声波诱导的毛细波，各种聚合物薄膜可变形为预先设计的结构，如平行凹槽和网格状图案。这些结构化且功能化的表面分别在液滴运输和集水方面展现出令人印象深刻的能力。除了这些静态表面，声学的可调性还可赋予聚合物表面对液滴操纵的动态可控性，包括编程润湿性、减轻液滴蒸发以及加速化学反应。我们的方法能够同时实现通用表面制造和液滴操纵，简化了制造过程，无需额外的化学修饰。因此，我们相信我们基于声学的表面和技术可为各种应用提供独特视角，包括微反应器集成、生化反应控制、组织工程等等。
