Dynamic air/liquid pockets for guiding microscale flow

Xu Hou; Jianyu Li; Alexander B Tesler; Yuxing Yao; Miao Wang; Lingli Min; Zhizhi Sheng; Joanna Aizenberg

doi:10.1038/s41467-018-03194-z

Dynamic air/liquid pockets for guiding microscale flow

Nat Commun. 2018 Feb 21;9(1):733. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03194-z.

Authors

Xu Hou^{1

2}, Jianyu Li^{3

4}, Alexander B Tesler³, Yuxing Yao⁵, Miao Wang⁶, Lingli Min⁷, Zhizhi Sheng⁷, Joanna Aizenberg^{8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Research Institute for Soft Matter and Biomimetics, College of Physical Science and Technology, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China. houx@xmu.edu.cn.
² College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surface, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China. houx@xmu.edu.cn.
³ John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 0G4, Canada.
⁵ Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
⁶ Research Institute for Soft Matter and Biomimetics, College of Physical Science and Technology, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China.
⁷ College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surface, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China.
⁸ John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA. jaiz@seas.harvard.edu.
⁹ Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA. jaiz@seas.harvard.edu.

Abstract

Microscale flows of fluids are mainly guided either by solid matrices or by liquid-liquid interfaces. However, the solid matrices are plagued with persistent fouling problems, while liquid-liquid interfaces are limited to low-pressure applications. Here we report a dynamic liquid/solid/gas material containing both air and liquid pockets, which are formed by partially infiltrating a porous matrix with a functional liquid. Using detailed theoretical and experimental data, we show that the distribution of the air- and liquid-filled pores is responsive to pressure and enables the formation and instantaneous recovery of stable liquid-liquid interfaces that sustain a wide range of pressures and prevent channel contamination. This adaptive design is demonstrated for polymeric materials and extended to metal-based systems that can achieve unmatched mechanical and thermal stability. Our platform with its unique adaptive pressure and antifouling capabilities may offer potential solutions to flow control in microfluidics, medical devices, microscale synthesis, and biological assays.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't