Fig. 5: Mechanically activated self-cleaning surfaces and mechanically controlled droplet sorting devices.
From: Dynamic manipulation of droplets using mechanically tunable microtextured chemical gradients
a Schematic illustration of the use of mechanical deformations to activate droplet transport and thus self-cleaning functionality. b Optical micrographs of the mechanically activated self-cleaning process (insets are higher magnification of the highlighted regions, and compressive strain, εc is given). c Schematic illustration of the operation of a mechanically controlled droplet sorting device. d Optical micrographs of a droplet sorting device in operation. Transport of a 5 µL droplet occurs following activation of the gradient using a compressive strain of εc = 0.1. Transport of a 2.5 µL droplet occurs following maximal activation of the gradient by reducing compressive strain to εc = 0.0. The 1 µL droplet is below the critical radius of transport for this device and does not move.
