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Flexible hemline-shaped microfibers for liquid transport

Nature Chemical Engineering volume 1, pages 87–96 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Directional liquid transport is important in both fundamental studies and industrial applications. Most existing strategies rely on the use of predesigned surfaces with sophisticated microstructures that limit the versatility and universality of the liquid transport. Here we present a platform for liquid transport based on flexible microfluidic-derived fibers with hemline-shaped cross-sections. These microfibers have periodic parallel microcavities along the axial direction, with sharp edges and wedge corners that enable unilateral pinning and capillary rise of liquids. This structure enables directional liquid transport along hydrophilic substrates with the use of a single fiber. Alternatively, a pair of fibers enables directional liquid transport along hydrophobic substrates or even without any additional substrate; the directional transport behavior applies to a wide range of liquids. We demonstrate the use of these fibers in open microfluidics, water extraction and liquid transport along arbitrary three-dimensional paths. Our platform provides a facile and universal solution for directional liquid transport in a range of different scenarios.

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Fig. 1: Generation of a hemline-shaped jet template from piezoelectric microfluidics.
Fig. 2: Characterization of the hemline-shaped microfibers.
Fig. 3: Directional liquid transport along a hemline-shaped microfiber attached to a hydrophilic substrate.
Fig. 4: Continuous liquid transport on two contacting microfibers.
Fig. 5: Applications of the hemline-shaped fibers bearing unidirectional liquid transport capabilities.

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All data are available within the paper and its Supplementary Information.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China with grants T2225003 (Y.Z.), 22202050 (C.Y.), 32271383 (L.S.) and 52073060 (Y.Z.), and the National Key Research and Development Program of China with grant 2020YFA0908200 (Y.Z.).

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Chaoyu Yang, Yunru Yu.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, China

    Chaoyu Yang, Yunru Yu & Yuanjin Zhao

  2. Oujiang Laboratory (Zhejiang Lab for Regenerative Medicine, Vision and Brain Health), Wenzhou Institute, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wenzhou, China

    Chaoyu Yang, Yunru Yu & Yuanjin Zhao

  3. Zhongshan-Xuhui Hospital, and the Shanghai Key Laboratory of Medical Epigenetics, the International Co-laboratory of Medical Epigenetics and Metabolism, Ministry of Science and Technology (Institutes of Biomedical Sciences), Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Luoran Shang

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Contributions

Y.Z. and L.S. conceived the idea. C.Y. designed the experiments. C.Y. and Y.Y. conducted the experiments. C.Y. and L.S. analyzed the data. C.Y., L.S. and Y.Z. wrote the paper.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Luoran Shang or Yuanjin Zhao.

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Nature Chemical Engineering thanks Huan Liu and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Tables 1 and 2, Figs. 1–21 and Discussion.

Supplementary Video 1

Jet dynamics under piezoelectric vibration.

Supplementary Video 2

Computational fluid dynamics simulation of the hemline-shaped jet dynamics.

Supplementary Video 3

Liquid transport behavior along a hemline-shaped and straight fiber.

Supplementary Video 4

High-speed digital images of the pinning and spreading behavior on a hydrophilic substrate.

Supplementary Video 5

Applications of hemline-shaped fibers.

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Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 2

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 3

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 4

Statistical source data.

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Yang, C., Yu, Y., Shang, L. et al. Flexible hemline-shaped microfibers for liquid transport. Nat Chem Eng 1, 87–96 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44286-023-00001-5

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