Related papers: Real-time Manipulation of Liquid Droplets using Ph…
Control of bubble motion is essential for improving efficiency and creating new functionalities in electrochemistry, heat transfer, and biomedical systems. Photoresponsive surfactants enable bubble manipulation by creating surface tension…
In the recent years, there has been a growing interest in droplet-based (digital) microfluidics for which, reliable means of droplet manipulation are required. In this study we demonstrate thermal actuation of droplets on liquid platforms,…
Water vapor condensation is common in nature and widely used in industrial applications, including water harvesting, power generation, and desalination. As compared to traditional filmwise condensation, dropwise condensation on…
This research introduces a new drop fluidics, which uses a deformable and stretchable elastomeric film as the platform, instead of the commonly used rigid supports. Such a soft film impregnated with magnetic particles can be modulated with…
Droplet motion on surfaces influences phenomena as diverse as microfluidic liquid handling, printing technology and micro-organism migration. Typically, droplet motion is achieved by inducing energy gradients on a substrate or flow on the…
We report an experimental investigation of the spontaneous motion of liquid droplets on soft gels with a crosslinking gradient. By systematically adjusting the spatial difference in crosslinking density, we observed that millimeter-sized…
In recent years, slippery surfaces have attracted significant interest due to their excellent liquid-repellent properties and their potential in diverse commercial applications. Such surfaces are prepared by coating functionalized solid…
Numerous cell-types have shown a remarkable ability to detect and move along gradients in stiffness of an underlying substrate -- a process known as durotaxis. The mechanisms underlying durotaxis are still unresolved, but generally believed…
Photoresponsive surfactants provide a unique microfluidic driving mechanism. Since their molecular shapes change under illumination and thereby affect surface tension of fluid interfaces, Marangoni flow along the interface occurs. To…
The transport of small quantities of liquid on a solid surface is inhibited by the resistance to motion caused by the contact between the liquid and the solid. To overcome such resistance, motion can be externally driven through gradients…
Exploring and controlling the physical factors that determine the topography of thin liquid dielectric films are of interest in manifold fields of research in physics, applied mathematics, and engineering and have been a key aspect of many…
Fluid droplets can be induced to move over rigid or flexible surfaces under external or body forces. We describe the effect of variations in material properties of a flexible substrate as a mechanism for motion. In this paper, we consider a…
Interfacial instabilities in multicomponent fluidic systems are widespread in nature and in industrial processes, yet controlling their dynamics remains a challenge. Here, we present a strategy to actively tune Marangoni-driven…
Lubricant-infused surfaces (LISs) can promote stable dropwise condensation and improve heat transfer rates due to a low nucleation free-energy barrier and high droplet mobility. Topographical differences in the oil surface cause water…
Coalescence of micrometer-scale droplets is impacted by several parameters, including droplet size, viscosities of the two phases, droplet velocity and angle of approach, as well as interfacial tension and surfactant coverage. The dynamics…
The self-sustained motion of fluids on gradient substrates is a spectacular phenomenon, which can be employed and controlled in applications by carefully engineering the substrate properties. Here, we report on a design of a gel substrate…
We propose an electro-hydrodynamics model to describe the dynamic evolution of a slender drop containing a dilute ionic surfactant on a naturally wettable surface, with a varying external electric field. This unified model reproduces…
We demonstrate spontaneous bidirectional motion of droplets on liquid infused surfaces in the presence of a topographical gradient, in which the droplets can move either toward the denser or the sparser solid fraction area. Our analytical…
A surfactant-laden droplet of one fluid dispersed in another immiscible fluid serves as an artificial model system capable of mimicking microbial swimmers. Either an interfacial chemical reaction or the process of solubilization generates…
The spreading of a pure, volatile liquid on a wettable substrate has been studied in extensive detail. Here we show that the addition of a miscible, non-volatile liquid can strongly alter the contact line dynamics and the final liquid…