Fig. 1: The tunable liquid and solid shells using the LMOI method.

a Liquid Marble on silicone oil (50 cP viscosity) infused surface in which oil rises to cover the LM as time progresses. The volume of the inner liquid is 10 µL, and the particle size is 35 µm PTFE. Entire LM cloaking can be seen in the initial 2 to 4 min. Scale bar = 1 mm. b Schematic representation of LMOI (Liquid marble on an oil-infused surface) where the coating of particle and oil is represented on an OI (liquid/oil-infused) surface. c A confocal microscope image shows the thickness of the silicone oil coating for LM and droplet (inset). Scale bars = 200 µm. d Stability of LMOI for different oils. A negative value of \({\varGamma=\gamma }_{{{{{{\rm{ow}}}}}}}-{\gamma }_{{{{{{\rm{o}}}}}}}\) represents an unstable coating where crack formation in LMOI is present (inset: LMOI – neem oil). A positive value of \(\varGamma={\gamma }_{{{{{{\rm{ow}}}}}}}-{\gamma }_{{{{{{\rm{o}}}}}}}\) represents a stable coating where no crack formation in LMOI is observed (Inset: LMOI – mineral oil). Scale bar = 1 mm. Measurements were carried out on n = 3 independent samples, and data are presented as mean values \(\pm\) SD. Black dots represent individual data points. e LMOI prepared from 200 µL liquid volume. Scale bar = 2 mm. Inset: LMOI prepared from 14 nL liquid volume. Scale bar = 300 µm. f SEM image of a half-cut dried capsule based on PTFE particles. Scale bar = 400 \({{\upmu }}{{{{{\rm{m}}}}}}\). g SEM image of a half-cut dried capsule based on hydrophobic glass particles (35 \({{\upmu }}{{{{{\rm{m}}}}}}\)). Scale bar = 400 \({{\upmu }}{{{{{\rm{m}}}}}}\). The red-dotted region represents the shell wall where spherical glass beds are visible through the cloaked layer of wax. Scale bar = 20 \({{\upmu }}{{{{{\rm{m}}}}}}\). h Shell thickness is represented as a function of particle size. Inset: SEM image of the PTFE shell wall. Scale bar = 40 µm. Measurements were carried out on n = 3 independent samples, and data are presented as mean values ± SD. i, The uniformity of the shell wall for different PTFE particle sizes. Measurements were carried out at 3 different regions, namely, the bottom left (orange color), top (blue color), and bottom right (purple color) parts of the capsule on n = 3 independent samples, and data are presented as mean values ± SD. Black dots represent individual data points. A detailed depiction of the locations is given in Supplementary Fig. 4. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.