Manipulating and dispensing micro/nanoliter droplets by superhydrophobic needle nozzles

There is rapidly increasing research interest focused on manipulating and dispensing tiny droplets in nanotechnology and biotechnology. A micro/nanostructured superhydrophobic nozzle surface is one promising candidate for the realization of tiny droplet manipulating applications. Here, we explore the feasibility of using superhydrophobicity for guided dispensing of tiny water droplets. A facile dip-coating method is developed to prepare superhydrophobic needle nozzles (SNNs) based on commercial needle nozzles with reduced inner diameter. The SNNs can manipulate tiny droplets of different volumes by only changing the inner diameter of the nozzle, rather than reducing the nozzle size as a whole. Different from the previous electric-field-directed process or pyroelectrodynamic-driven technique, quasi-stable water drops down to the picoliter scale can be produced by SNNs without employing any extra driving mechanisms. Due to their intrinsic superhydrophobic nature, the SNNs also possess the properties of reducing sample liquid retention, improving sample volume transfer accuracy, and saving expensive reagents. In addition, this kind of dip-coating method can also be applied to micropipet tips, inkjet or bio-printer heads, etc. As the issues of reducing drop size and increasing drop volume accuracy are quite important in the laboratory and industry, this facile but effective superhydrophobic nozzle-coating method for manipulating tiny droplets could be of great help to make breakthroughs in next-generation liquid transport and biometric and inkjet printing devices.