Hierarchical nanotexturing enables acoustofluidics on slippery yet sticky, flexible surfaces

Tao, R. et al. (2020) Hierarchical nanotexturing enables acoustofluidics on slippery yet sticky, flexible surfaces. Nano Letters, 20(5), pp. 3263-3270. (doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c00005) (PMID:32233442) (PMCID:PMC7227016)

Abstract

The ability to actuate liquids remains a fundamental challenge in smart microsystems, such as those for soft robotics, where devices often need to conform to either natural or three-dimensional solid shapes, in various orientations. Here we propose a hierarchical nanotexturing of piezoelectric films as active microfluidic actuators, exploiting a unique combination of both topographical and chemical properties on flexible surfaces, whilst also introducing design concepts of shear hydrophobicity and tensile hydrophilicity. In doing so, we create nanostructured surfaces that are, at the same time, both slippery (low in-plane pinning) and sticky (high normal-to-plane liquid adhesion). By enabling fluid transportation on such arbitrarily shaped surfaces, we demonstrate efficient fluid motions on inclined, vertical, inverted, or even flexible geometries in three dimensions. Such surfaces can also be deformed and then reformed into their original shapes, thereby paving the way for advanced microfluidic applications.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Cooper, Professor Jonathan and Reboud, Professor Julien and Tao, Dr Ran
• Authors: Tao, R., McHale, G., Reboud, J., Cooper, J. M., Torun, H., Luo, J., Luo, J., Yang, X., Zhou, J., Canyelles-Pericas, P., Wu, Q., and Fu, Y.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering; College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Biomedical Engineering
• Journal Name: Nano Letters
• Publisher: American Chemical Society
• ISSN: 1530-6984
• ISSN (Online): 1530-6992
• Published Online: 01 April 2020
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society
• First Published: First published in Nano Letters 2020
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
168637		Advanced Diagnostics using Phononics	Jonathan Cooper	Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)	EP/K027611/1	ENG - Biomedical Engineering
169832		Bio-PHONONICS: Advanced Microfluidics & Diagnostics using Acoustic Holograms �` Bio-Phononics	Jonathan Cooper	European Research Council (ERC)	340117	ENG - Biomedical Engineering