A miniature droplet reactor built on nanoparticle-derived superhydrophobic pedestals

Abstract

The capability to design and modulate materials, shapes, heat transfer, and mass mixing during the process of developing chemical reactors has allowed researchers to explore millions of chemical reactions and assays. However, despite the advantages in engineering array-based microreactors or microfluidic systems, the wetting attachment between solutions of reagents/products and the glass or polymer substrates of containers leads to difficulties in collecting products effectively and preventing channel blockage. Herein we present a miniature droplet reactor which takes advantage of the anti-wetting and low-adhesive properties of nanoparticle-derived superhydrophobic pedestals, allowing aqueous droplets to be manipulated freely but also providing a confined environment for performing a series of aqueous phase chemical reactions on a small scale. Gas-or precipitateforming reactions can also be performed inside this miniature reactor. Most importantly, reaction products in liquid, solid or gaseous states can be collected effectively, which allows the harvesting of valuable products formed in limited amounts. Such a miniature reactor built on superhydrophobic pedestals provides a new way of performing common chemical reactions and may open the door to the design of next-generation microreaction systems.

Fusion of nacre, mussel, and lotus leaf: bio-inspired graphene composite paper with multifunctional integration

“…The surface functionalization of GC paper was performed in accordance with the literature procedure. 52 Polystyrene granules (1.0 g, Aldrich), hydrophobic fumed silica nanoparticles (0.8 g, Evonik Degussa Co.), and chloroform (30 mL, Aldrich) were mixed and magnetically stirred for 0.5 h in a closed bottle. Superhydrophobic GC paper was produced by a dip-coating method at a speed of ca.…”

“…The generation of superhydrophobicity can be attributed the cooperation of surface hierarchical structures and low surface energy silica. 52 In addition to the water repellency, the modied GC paper also exhibited repellency towards corrosive liquids, such as acidic, basic, and some aqueous salt solutions. The static contact angle is almost unchanged over a wide range of pH values from 1 to 14, demonstrating good stability.…”

Interfacial Material System Exhibiting Superwettability

“…Very recently, rough ceramic surfaces based anti‐wetting has been proposed by Varanasi et al, showing a intrinsic superhydrophobic surface . Besides fabrication, an interesting application of superwetting surfaces is to generate miniature chemical reactors and arrange nanomaterials, which is in their infancy period but with a promising future. Furthermore, superhydrophobic surfaces towards chiral liquids, biological platelet or cancer cells have been carefully investigated in the recent decades.…”

Bioinspired Superhydrophobic Fe3O4@Polydopamine@Ag Hybrid Nanoparticles for Liquid Marble and Oil Spill

“…Controllable transport and manipulation of small volumes of liquids have attracted increasingly interest because of the ongoing needs for miniaturized systems in many biological applications . When a water droplet is dropped onto the bed of as‐prepared superhydrophobic Fe 3 O 4 @PDA@Ag NPs, the droplet stands on it and is well‐separated with the NPs, showing the high hydrophobic contact regime ( Figure b).…”