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Digitally fabricated 3D slippery architectures for multifunctional liquid manipulation.
Woo Young Kim1, Seong Min Yoon2, Seo Rim Park2
1Global Institute for Advanced Nanoscience & Technology, Changwon National University, Changwon, South Korea.
Nature Communications
|October 10, 2025
Summary
Researchers developed a digital fabrication method for creating complex, architected slippery surfaces. This breakthrough allows for precise control over liquid-infused materials, advancing applications in microfluidics and beyond.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Surface Engineering
- Microfluidics
Background:
- Controlling liquid-based materials is challenging due to complex solid-liquid-gas interfaces.
- Existing liquid-infused surfaces lack topological flexibility, restricting designs to simple patterns.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a digital fabrication method for creating complex, architected slippery surfaces with geometric design freedom.
- To enable precise control over structural topologies and slippery properties of infused liquids.
Main Methods:
- Digital printing of photopolymerization-induced multiphase materials.
- Photoinduced grafting techniques for creating solid-liquid composite interfaces.
- Fabrication of multi-scale structures with controlled topologies.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated the digital fabrication of topologically complex slippery architectures.
- Achieved precise control over the structural scales and slippery properties of liquid-infused materials.
- Showcased the versatility of the platform for various applications.
Conclusions:
- This digital fabrication approach overcomes limitations of traditional methods for creating liquid-infused surfaces.
- The developed platform offers enhanced capabilities for liquid manipulation, droplet evaporation, and biomedical microfluidic chip design.
- Architected slippery surfaces with controlled structural scales represent a significant advancement in materials science.
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