Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Capillarity in Fluid

Capillarity in Fluid

Capillarity describes the movement of liquid in small spaces without external forces acting on it. The capillarity is driven by surface tension and adhesive interactions between the liquid and surrounding solid surfaces. This effect is often seen in narrow tubes, porous materials, and fine particles.
Surface tension is crucial to capillarity. It results from cohesive forces between liquid molecules at the liquid-air boundary, forming a skin that resists external forces. When the capillary tube...

Rise of Liquid in a Capillary Tube

Rise of Liquid in a Capillary Tube

When very thin cylindrical tubes, called capillaries, are dipped in a liquid, the liquid rises or falls in the tube compared to the surrounding liquid. This phenomenon is called capillary action. Capillary action occurs due to the combination of two opposing forces: the cohesive forces of the liquid, which cause it to stick to itself and form a rounded shape, and the adhesive forces between the liquid and the walls of the container, which cause the liquid to be attracted to the container walls.

Capillary Exchange

Capillary Exchange

The cardiovascular system's chief role is to disseminate gases, nutrients, waste, and other substances to the body's cells. Small molecules like gases, lipids, and lipid-soluble substances directly diffuse through capillary wall endothelial cell membranes. Glucose, amino acids, and ions, including sodium, potassium, calcium, and chloride, use transporters for facilitated diffusion via membrane-specific channels. Glucose, ions, and bigger molecules may also pass through intercellular...

Surface Tension, Capillary Action, and Viscosity

Surface Tension, Capillary Action, and Viscosity

Surface Tension
The various IMFs between identical molecules of a substance are examples of cohesive forces. The molecules within a liquid are surrounded by other molecules and are attracted equally in all directions by the cohesive forces within the liquid. However, the molecules on the surface of a liquid are attracted only by about one-half as many molecules. Because of the unbalanced molecular attractions on the surface molecules, liquids contract to form a shape that minimizes the number...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Unravelling the Effect of Dynamic Loading on the Infiltration of Water into Hydrophobic Nanopores.

Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids·2026

Same author

Thermal transport in mechanically deformed two-dimensional materials and designed structures with their applications.

Nanoscale horizons·2025

Same author

Processing soft thin films on liquid surface for seamless creation of on-liquid walkable devices.

Science advances·2025

Same author

Vat Photopolymerization Printing of Modular Soft Stretchable Low-Cost Elastomers.

ACS applied polymer materials·2025

Same author

Mechanical Flexibility Improves Thermal Conduction of Confined Liquid in Nanofluidics.

The journal of physical chemistry letters·2025

Same author

Degradation of Hydrogen Bonds Enormously Enhances Convective Heat Transfer in Nanofluidics.

Nano letters·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 18, 2025

Microfluidic Dry-spinning and Characterization of Regenerated Silk Fibroin Fibers

Microfluidic Dry-spinning and Characterization of Regenerated Silk Fibroin Fibers

Published on: September 4, 2017

Elastocapillary rolling transfer weaves soft materials to spatial structures.

Yue Zhang¹, Mengtian Yin¹, Baoxing Xu¹

¹Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.

Science Advances

|August 23, 2023

Summary

Researchers developed a new mechanical transfer method to create complex 3D soft material structures. This technique enables precise control over weaving patterns and chirality for applications in robotics and electronics.

More Related Videos

Material Formation of Recombinant Spider Silks through Aqueous Solvation using Heat and Pressure

Material Formation of Recombinant Spider Silks through Aqueous Solvation using Heat and Pressure

Published on: May 6, 2019

Scalable Stamp Printing and Fabrication of Hemiwicking Surfaces

Scalable Stamp Printing and Fabrication of Hemiwicking Surfaces

Published on: December 18, 2018

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 18, 2025

Microfluidic Dry-spinning and Characterization of Regenerated Silk Fibroin Fibers

Microfluidic Dry-spinning and Characterization of Regenerated Silk Fibroin Fibers

Published on: September 4, 2017

Material Formation of Recombinant Spider Silks through Aqueous Solvation using Heat and Pressure

Material Formation of Recombinant Spider Silks through Aqueous Solvation using Heat and Pressure

Published on: May 6, 2019

Scalable Stamp Printing and Fabrication of Hemiwicking Surfaces

Scalable Stamp Printing and Fabrication of Hemiwicking Surfaces

Published on: December 18, 2018

Area of Science:

Materials Science
Soft Matter Physics
Robotics Engineering

Background:

Soft materials are crucial for advanced applications like wearable electronics, biomedical devices, and soft robotics.
Existing methods lack facile technologies for assembling soft materials into intricate spatial structures.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop a novel, facile technology for assembling soft materials into diverse spatial structures.
To demonstrate controllable weaving chirality, order, and local folding patterns.
To showcase the versatility of the method with various soft material forms and substrate geometries.

Main Methods:

A mechanical transfer route utilizing the rotational motion of curved substrates over soft materials on a liquid surface.
Controlled manipulation of substrate curvature and rotational dynamics to dictate structure formation.
Integration of different soft material forms (wire, ribbon, film) onto 3D substrates.

Main Results:

Successful weaving of soft materials into a wide array of spatial structures with tunable global chirality and order.
Generation of local ear-like folds with programmable numbers and spatial distributions.
Demonstration of freestanding woven structures with on-demand patterns and orders.
Fabrication of structures exhibiting temperature-driven multimodal actuation for programmable robotic postures.

Conclusions:

The reported mechanical transfer route offers a facile and versatile method for creating complex 3D soft material architectures.
The technique allows precise control over structural features, enabling tailored functionalities for advanced applications.
The developed spatial structures show promise for programmable robotic systems and other soft electronic devices.