Stimuli‐Responsive Liquid‐Crystal‐Infused Porous Surfaces for Manipulation of Underwater Gas Bubble Transport and Adhesion

• DOI: 10.1002/adma.202110085
• Publication Date: 2022-01-28T14:04:33Z
• Authors: Adil Majeed Rather; Yang Xu; Yun Chang; Robert Lewis Dupont; Angana Borbora; Ufuoma Israel Kara; Jen‐Chun Fang; Rajdeep Mamtani; Meng Zhang; Yuxing Yao; Solomon Adera; Xiaoping Bao; Uttam Manna; Xiaoguang Wang
• Keywords: gas-bubble adhesion; Surface Properties; Mechanical Engineering; lubricated surfaces; Water; gas-bubble transport; 01 natural sciences; 620; Liquid Crystals; 0104 chemical sciences; Physical Phenomena; stimuli responsive materials; liquid crystals; Engineering; Mechanics of Materials; Materials Science and Engineering; Engineering (General); General Materials Science; gas bubble adhesion; gas bubble transport; Porosity

AbstractBiomimetic artificial surfaces that enable the manipulation of gas bubble mobility have been explored in a wide range of applications in nanomaterial synthesis, surface defouling, biomedical diagnostics, and therapeutics. Although many superhydrophobic surfaces and isotropic‐lubricant‐infused porous surfaces have been developed to manipulate gas bubbles, the simultaneous control over the adhesion and transport of gas bubbles underwater remains a challenge. Thermotropic liquid crystals (LCs), a class of structured fluids, provide an opportunity to tune the behavior of gas bubbles through LC mesophase transitions using a variety of external stimuli. Using this central idea, the design and synthesis of LC‐infused porous surfaces (LCIPS) is reported and the effects of the LC mesophase on the transport and adhesion of gas bubbles on LCIPS immersed in water elucidated. LCIPS are demonstrated to be a promising class of surfaces with an unprecedented level of responsiveness and functionality, which enables the design of cyanobacteria‐inspired object movement, smart catalysts, and bubble gating devices to sense and sort volatile organic compounds and control oxygen levels in biomimetic cell cultures.