Use of Liquid Marbles as Micro-Reactors

Abstract

Liquid marbles are droplets coated with hydrophobic micro-scaled powder. Micro-scaled particles of polyvinylidene fluoride formed highly permeable shell enwrapping 100 microliter droplet. This fact was used for converting liquid marbles into micro-reactors. Marbles containing the mixture of ammonia acetate, acetic acid and acetylacetone were exposed to formaldehyde vapor. Formaldehyde vapor absorbed by the liquid surface promoted the chemical reaction accompanied by marble coloring. Thus, mobile sliding and floating micro-reactors were produced. Liquid marbles can be used for remote sensing of gaseous organic contaminants.