Abstract
The study of liquid marbles (LMs) composed of stabilizing liquid droplets with solid particles in a gaseous environment has matured into an established area in surface and colloid science. The minimized "solid-liquid-air"triphase interface enables LMs to drastically reduce adhesion to a solid substrate, making them unique non-wetting droplets transportable with limited energy. The small volume, enclosed environment, and simple preparation render them suitable microreactors in industrial applications and processes such as cell culture, material synthesis, and blood coagulation. Extensive application contexts request precise and highly efficient manipulations of these non-wetting droplets. Many external fields, including magnetic, acoustic, photothermal, and pH, have emerged to prepare, deform, actuate, coalesce, mix, and disrupt these non-wetting droplets. Electric fields are rising among these external stimuli as an efficient source for manipulating the LMs with high controllability and a significant ability to contribute further to proposed applications. This Feature Article attempts to outline the recent developments related to LMs with the aid of electric fields. The effects of electric fields on the preparation and manipulation of LMs with intricate interfacial processes are discussed in detail. We highlight a wealth of novel electric field-involved LM-based applications and beyond while also envisaging the challenges, opportunities, and new directions for future development in this emerging research area. © 2022 American Chemical Society.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 9721-9740 |
| Journal | Langmuir |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue number | 32 |
| Online published | 2 Aug 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 16 Aug 2022 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
This work is supported by the Croucher Senior Research Fellowship, NSFC Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Hong Kong and Macau, 21922816), and the Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong through the General Research Fund (17329516, 17305518, 17306820, and 17304017). Y.Z. and H.C.S. acknowledge the Health@InnoHK program of the Innovation and Technology Commission of Hong Kong for support. In addition, Y.Z. thanks Li Yuet Yan for her patience, support, and love during the time he was writing this feature article.