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A liquid marbles are non-stick droplets coated with macro or nano-scaled powder
About
Wetting can be a real problem, particularly in microfluidics where the tendency of a liquid to stick to a surface makes it harder to move in tiny channels. The usual attack on sticky wetting is to alter the surface the liquid is sticking to (wax paper, Teflon). A liquid marbles are non-stick droplets coated with macro or nano-scaled powder.
Key Benefits
Surface tension of liquid marbles is of a pronounced hysteretic nature. The technology provides a method to synthesize, functionalize and actuate the marbles with magnetic and electric fields. These liquid marbles are stable when submerged in organic liquids, making them an extremely versatile analytical platform suitable for sensing in a large variety of liquids and detection across multiple liquids with high mechanical stability. Furthermore, since the marbles has magnetic response it is possible to open and close the liquid marbles. This feature enables an external device to take liquid samples from the marble or add chemical reagents to the encapsulated liquid for various purposes.
Applications
Avoiding wetting is important in industrial processes such as metal refining and biological processes as cell motility. Possible applications of marbles: micro-fluidic devices, gas sensing, precise transport of small quantities of liquids, revealing of water pollution, blood typing etc.