Droplet Self-Propelling Control on Bioinspired Fiber in Low Temperature and High Humidity Environment
writer：Yongping Hou,* Yan Xing, Shile Feng, Chunlei Gao, Hu Zhou, and Yongmei Zheng*
keywords：Droplet Transport
source：期刊
specific source：Adv. Mater. Interfaces 2020, 7, 1901183
Issue time：2020年
In low temperature and high humidity environment, the self-propelling of
droplet on normal wettable gradient surface is often out of control. Here,
inspired by surface features of wetted spider silk and cactus, a kind of
multilevel-structure bioinspired fiber (BSF) with multigradients is fabricated
via a novel gas-bubble template-assisted electrodeposition. The multilevel
structures are used to control the state of the condensed droplets and make
multigradients still work in low temperature and high humidity environment,
while the multigradients provide multiple driving forces to overcome resistance. More importantly, one of driving forces, i.e., the coalescence driving
force, can be controlled via the temperature. Therefore, the BSF can not only
realize the desired self-propelling of deposited droplet in low temperature and
high humidity environment similar to wetted spider silk and cactus, but also
present the controllability of movement. The results may assist in the design
of functional surfaces required for cold environment or high humidity, e.g.,
low temperature microreactors, chemical analytics under specific conditions,
and sensors.