Shenzhen's two research teams led by Du Xuemin and Wang Zuankai jointly developed a new type of slippery material. The research findings were published Friday in Science Advances, an international scientific journal, Shenzhen Economic Daily reported.
Du, a researcher at the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Wang, a professor at the City University of Hong Kong, are co-corresponding authors of the article.
The new slippery material, light-induced charged slippery surface (LICS), harnesses the dual advantages of both solids and lubricants, showing great potential in biomedicine.
These advantages are achieved by rationally constructing a photothermal-responsive composite matrix with real-time light-induced surface charge regeneration capability, according to the paper.
It is elaborated that the LICS’s photocontrol of droplets in various working scenarios owes to its dynamic adaptive functionalities, such as its fast speed, long distance, antigravity climbing, single-to-multiple droplets, microscale-to-macroscale size, flat-to-curved surface, and open-to-closed system, overcoming the barriers inherent in conventional interfacial materials, such as slippery lubricant-infused porous.
The simple design, portable operation, and unique features of the LICS are expected to open up new avenues for next-generation interfacial materials and microfluidics, bringing wide possibilities for chemical and biomedical applications, the researchers said.