Light-Triggered Droplet Gating Strategy Based on Janus Membrane Fabricated by Femtosecond Laser

Abstract

The characteristics of the directed transport of liquids based on Janus membranes play a crucial role in practical applications in energy, materials, physics, chemistry, medicine, biology, and other fields. Although extensive progress has been made, it is still difficult to realize the accurate controllability of liquid directional transmembrane transport. The current gating strategies for the directed transport of liquids based on Janus membranes still have some limitations: (a) using magnetic fluid may cause contamination due to the addition of new substances and (b) utilizing hydrophobicity/ hydrophilicity conversion of titanium dioxide requires a long switching time (over 30 min). Herein, a strategy is proposed to precisely control liquid directional transport by altering the wettability of droplets on Janus films prepared by a femtosecond laser through photothermal effects. Infrared laser irradiation on Janus film coated with CNTs can effectively convert light energy into thermal energy, rapidly increase the surface temperature of Janus film, and change the wettability of the liquid on the film. Liquid transmembrane directional transport can be achieved within a few seconds without contaminating the transported liquid. The proposed gating strategy can enable the application of Janus membranes in various scenarios such as microchemical reactions, biological cell culture, and interface self-propulsion.