Journal
NATIONAL SCIENCE REVIEW
Volume 8, Issue 5, Pages -Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/nsr/nwaa301
Keywords
confined magnetic colloids; entropy; pressure threshold; fluid transport; liquid gating technology
Categories
Funding
- National Key R&D Program of China [2018YFA0209500]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [52025132, 21975209, 21673197, 21808191, 21621091]
- Overseas Expertise Introduction Project for Discipline Innovation (111 Project) [B16029]
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [20720190037]
- Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province of China [2018J06003]
- CAS (Chinese Academy of Sciences) Key Laboratory of Bio-inspired Materials and Interfacial Science, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada [RGPIN-201804146]
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This study demonstrates how collective dynamics of confined magnetic colloids can be finely tuned by external magnetic fields, and reveals that the collective configuration characterized by the colloidal entropy is controlled by factors such as colloidal concentration, confining ratio, and external field strength and direction. Manipulating the entropy of the colloidal suspension can control the mechanical properties of the colloidal suspension and the transport of the solvent in microfluidic devices.
Collective dynamics of confined colloids are crucial in diverse scenarios such as self-assembly and phase behavior in materials science, microrobot swarms for drug delivery and microfluidic control. Yet, fine-tuning the dynamics of colloids in microscale confined spaces is still a formidable task due to the complexity of the dynamics of colloidal suspension and to the lack of methodology to probe colloids in confinement. Here, we show that the collective dynamics of confined magnetic colloids can be finely tuned by external magnetic fields. In particular, the mechanical properties of the confined colloidal suspension can be probed in real time and this strategy can be also used to tune microscale fluid transport. Our experimental and theoretical investigations reveal that the collective configuration characterized by the colloidal entropy is controlled by the colloidal concentration, confining ratio and external field strength and direction. Indeed, our results show that mechanical properties of the colloidal suspension as well as the transport of the solvent in microfluidic devices can be controlled upon tuning the entropy of the colloidal suspension. Our approach opens new avenues for the design and application of drug delivery, microfluidic logic, dynamic fluid control, chemical reaction and beyond.
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