Recently,
Ph.D. student Yulong Han, Moxiao Li and Dr. Qingzhen Yang from BEBC has
published their research paper as co-first authors in Advanced Functional Materials entitled " Collective Wetting of
a Natural Fibrous System and Its Application in Pump-Free Droplet Transfer ".
Novel
wetting strategies in plant have inspired numerous notable biomimetic surfaces
over the past decade, such as self-cleaning surfaces mimicking the water
repellency of lotus leaves and directional water transport surfaces imitating
the slippery surface on carnivorous plant. Inspired by nature, authors find a
new wetting behavior in dandelion seed (genus Taraxacum), characterized by
capturing a droplet inside it. By identifying the critical conditions in terms
of the fibrous geometry and liquid surface tension, the volume of the captured
droplet can be quantitatively obtained. More interestingly, the reverse process
could be triggered by introducing a competitive liquid phase with smaller
surface tension to the wetted fiber assay, as demonstrated by the release of
the captured water droplet in oil. These results enhance the understanding on
wetting of fibrous structures and would benefit the design of novel intelligent
and responsive devices. Although how to fabricate the similar structures in a
high throughput manner remains challenge, the wetting behavior reported here
opens up the possibility for pump-free droplet generation using a broad range
of liquid, and for the design of intelligent, responsive structures for liquid
handling.
The
work is under the guidance of Professor Tianjian Lu and Professor Feng Xu. The
co-authors of the paper include Dr. Guoyou Huang, Hao Liu, Yidan Qin, Professor
Guy M. Genin, and Professor Feng Li.