Microchannel and Nanofiber Array Morphology Enhanced Rapid Superspreading on Animals’ Corneas

• DOI: 10.1002/adma.202007152
• Publication Date: 2021-04-23T14:39:48Z
• Authors: Weining Miao; Shuang Zheng; Jiajia Zhou; Bo Zhang; Ruochen Fang; Dezhao Hao; Li Sun; Dianyu Wang; Zhongpeng Zhu; Xu Jin; Ye Tian; Lei Jiang
• Keywords: Cornea; 0303 health sciences; 03 medical and health sciences; Nanofibers; Wettability

AbstractThe dynamic spreading phenomenon of liquids is vital for both understanding wetting mechanisms and visual reaction time‐related applications. However, how to control and accelerate the spreading process is still an enormous challenge. Here, a unique microchannel and nanofiber array morphology enhanced rapid superspreading (RSS) effect on animals’ corneas with a superspreading time (ST) of 830 ms is found, and the respective roles of the nanofiber array and the microchannel in the RSS effect are explicitly demonstrated. Specifically, the superspreading is induced by in‐/out‐of‐plane nanocapillary forces among the nanofiber array; the microchannel is responsible for tremendously speeding up the superspreading process. Inspired by the RSS strategy, not only is an RSS surface fabricated with an ST of only 450 ms, which is, respectively, more than 26 and 1.8 times faster than conventional superamphiphilic surfaces and animal's corneas and can be applied as RSS surfaces on video monitors to record clear videos, but also it is demonstrated that the RSS effect has tremendous potential as advanced ophthalmic material surfaces to enhance its biocompatibility for clear vision.