4.6 Article

Continuous Directional Water Delivery on the 3D-Printed Arrowhead Microstructure Array

Journal

MATERIALS
Volume 12, Issue 7, Pages -

Publisher

MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/ma12071043

Keywords

unidirectional transport; arrowhead microstructure; superhydrophilic; Laplace pressure; light curing printing

Funding

  1. National Science Foundation of China [11672269, 51875523, 51875525]
  2. Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China [LR19E020004]

Ask authors/readers for more resources

Unidirectional transport is attracting increasing attention in the field of microfluidics, because it does not require an external energy supply. However, most of the current self-driving structures are still plagued with persistent problems that restrict their practical applications. These include low transport velocity, short transport distance, and complex structure. This work reports the design of a new arrowhead microstructure array, on which liquid transport can reach speeds of 23 mm/s and the ratio of transport length to channel width (L/R) can reach up to approximately 40. This structure drives liquid through a unique arrow conformation, which can induce capillary force and arrest the reverse motion of the liquid simultaneously. By means of theory, simulation, and experiment, we have studied the mechanism of liquid transport on this structure. We provide a detailed discussion of the relationship between the velocity of liquid transport and the microstructural dimensions. The findings may inspire the design of novel, unidirectional, liquid-spreading surfaces.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.6
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available