Recently, Ph.D. student Yulong Han, Moxiao Li and Dr. Qingzhen Yang from BEBC has published their research paper as co-first authors in Advanced Functional Materials entitled " Collective Wetting of a Natural Fibrous System and Its Application in Pump-Free Droplet Transfer ".

Novel wetting strategies in plant have inspired numerous notable biomimetic surfaces over the past decade, such as self-cleaning surfaces mimicking the water repellency of lotus leaves and directional water transport surfaces imitating the slippery surface on carnivorous plant. Inspired by nature, authors find a new wetting behavior in dandelion seed (genus Taraxacum), characterized by capturing a droplet inside it. By identifying the critical conditions in terms of the fibrous geometry and liquid surface tension, the volume of the captured droplet can be quantitatively obtained. More interestingly, the reverse process could be triggered by introducing a competitive liquid phase with smaller surface tension to the wetted fiber assay, as demonstrated by the release of the captured water droplet in oil. These results enhance the understanding on wetting of fibrous structures and would benefit the design of novel intelligent and responsive devices. Although how to fabricate the similar structures in a high throughput manner remains challenge, the wetting behavior reported here opens up the possibility for pump-free droplet generation using a broad range of liquid, and for the design of intelligent, responsive structures for liquid handling.

The work is under the guidance of Professor Tianjian Lu and Professor Feng Xu. The co-authors of the paper include Dr. Guoyou Huang, Hao Liu, Yidan Qin, Professor Guy M. Genin, and Professor Feng Li.