Bioinspired Surfaces Derived from Acoustic Waves for On-Demand Droplet Manipulations

Abstract

The controllable manipulation and transfer of droplets are fundamental in a wide range of chemical reactions and even life processes. Herein, we present a novel, universal, and straightforward acoustic approach to fabricating biomimetic surfaces for on-demand droplet manipulations like many natural creatures. Based on the capillary waves induced by surface acoustic waves, various polymer films could be deformed into pre-designed structures, such as parallel grooves and grid-like patterns. These structured and functionalized surfaces exhibit impressive ability in droplet transportation and water collection, respectively. Besides these static surfaces, the tunability of acoustics could also endow polymer surfaces with dynamic controllability for droplet manipulations, including programming wettability, mitigating droplet evaporation, and accelerating chemical reactions. Our approach is capable of achieving universal surface manufacturing and droplet manipulation simultaneously, which simplifies the fabrication process and eliminates the need for additional chemical modifications. Thus, we believe that our acoustic-derived surfaces and technologies could provide a unique perspective for various applications, including microreactor integration, biochemical reaction control, tissue engineering, and so on.