2013
Burgess IB, Nerger BA, Raymond KP, Goulet-Hanssens A, Singleton TA, Kinney MH, Shneidman AV, Koay N, Barrett CJ, Loncar M, et al. Wetting in Color: From photonic fingerprinting of liquids to optical control of liquid percolation. Proc. of SPIE. 2013;8632 :863201.
Publisher's VersionAbstractWe provide an overview of our recent advances in the manipulation of wetting in inverse-opal photonic crystals. Exploiting photonic crystals with spatially patterned surface chemistry to confine the infiltration of fluids to liquidspecific spatial patterns, we developed a highly selective scheme for colorimetry, where organic liquids are distinguished based on wetting. The high selectivity of wetting, upon-which the sensitivity of the response relies, and the bright iridescent color, which disappears when the pores are filled with liquid, are both a result of the highly symmetric pore structure of our inverse-opal films. The application of horizontally or vertically orientated gradients in the surface chemistry allows a unique response to be tailored to specific liquids. While the generic nature of wetting makes our approach to colorimetry suitable for applications in liquid authentication or identification across a broad range of industries, it also ensures chemical non-specificity. However, we show that chemical specificity can be achieved combinatorially using an array of indicators that each exploits different chemical gradients to cover the same dynamic range of response. Finally, incorporating a photo-responsive polyelectrolyte surface layer into the pores, we are able to dynamically and continuously photo-tune the wetting response, even while the film is immersed in liquid. This in situ optical control of liquid percolation in our photonic-crystal films may also provide an error-free means to tailor indicator response, naturally compensating for batch-to-batch variability in the pore geometry.
Wong T-S, Sun T, Feng L, Aizenberg J.
Interfacial materials with special wettability. MRS Bulletin. 2013;38 :366-371.
Publisher's VersionAbstractVarious life forms in nature display a high level of adaptability to their environments through the use of sophisticated material interfaces. This is exemplifi ed by numerous biological systems, such as the self-cleaning of lotus leaves, the water-walking abilities of water striders and spiders, the ultra-slipperiness of pitcher plants, the directional liquid adhesion of butterfl y wings, and the water collection capabilities of beetles, spider webs, and cacti. The versatile interactions of these natural surfaces with fl uids, or special wettability, are enabled by their unique micro/nanoscale surface structures and intrinsic material properties. Many of these biological designs and principles have inspired new classes of functional interfacial materials, which have remarkable potential to solve some of the engineering challenges for industrial and biomedical applications. In this article, we provide a snapshot of the state of the art of biologically inspired materials with special wettability, and discuss some promising future directions for the field.
Grinthal A, Aizenberg J.
Adaptive all the way down: Building responsive materials from hierarchies of chemomechanical feedback. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2013;42 (17) :7072-7085.
Publisher's VersionAbstractA living organism is a bundle of dynamic, integrated adaptive processes: not only does it continuously respond to constant changes in temperature, sunlight, nutrients, and other features of its environment, but it does so by coordinating hierarchies of feedback among cells, tissues, organs, and networks all continuously adapting to each other. At the root of it all is one of the most fundamental adaptive processes: the constant tug of war between chemistry and mechanics that interweaves chemical signals with endless reconfigurations of macromolecules, fibers, meshworks, and membranes. In this tutorial we explore how such chemomechanical feedback – as an inherently dynamic, iterative process connecting size and time scales – can and has been similarly evoked in synthetic materials to produce a fascinating diversity of complex multiscale responsive behaviors. We discuss how chemical kinetics and architecture can be designed to generate stimulus-induced 3D spatiotemporal waves and topographic patterns within a single bulk material, and how feedback between interior dynamics and surface-wide instabilities can further generate higher order buckling and wrinkling patterns. Building on these phenomena, we show how yet higher levels of feedback and spatiotemporal complexity can be programmed into hybrid materials, and how these mechanisms allow hybrid materials to be further integrated into multicompartmental systems capable of hierarchical chemo-mechano-chemical feedback responses. These responses no doubt represent only a small sample of the chemomechanical feedback behaviors waiting to be discovered in synthetic materials, and enable us to envision nearly limitless possibilities for designing multiresponsive, multifunctional, self-adapting materials and systems.
Yao X, Hu Y, Grinthal A, Wong T-S, Mahadevan L, Aizenberg J.
Adaptive fluid-infused porous films with tunable transparency and wettability. Nature Materials. 2013;12 :529-534.
Full TextAbstractMaterials that adapt dynamically to environmental changes are currently limited to two-state switching of single properties, and only a small number of strategies that may lead to materials with continuously adjustable characteristics have been reported1-3. Here we introduce adaptive surfaces made of a liquid film supported by a nanoporous elastic substrate. As the substrate deforms, the liquid flows within the pores causing the smooth and defect-free surface to roughen through a continuous range of topographies. We show that a graded mechanical stimulus can be directly translated into finely tuned, dynamic adjustments of optical transparency and wettability. In particular, we demonstrate simultaneous control of the film's transparency and its ability to continuously manipulate various low-surface-tension droplets from free-sliding to pinned. This strategy should make possible the rational design of tunable, multifunctional adaptive materials for a broad range of applications.
Hatton BD, Wheeldon I, Hancock MJ, Kolle M, Aizenberg J, Ingber DE.
An artificial vasculature for adaptive thermal control of windows. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells. 2013;117 :429-436.
Publisher's VersionAbstractWindows are a major source of energy inefficiency in buildings. In addition, heating by thermal radiation reduces the efficiency of photovoltaic panels. To help reduce heating by solar absorption in both of these cases, we developed a thin, transparent, bio-inspired, convective cooling layer for building windows and solar panels that contains microvasculature with millimeter-scale, fluid-filled channels. The thin cooling layer is composed of optically clear silicone rubber with microchannels fabricated using microfluidic engineering principles. Infrared imaging was used to measure cooling rates as a function of flow rate and water temperature. In these experiments, flowing room temperature water at 2 mL/min reduced the average temperature of a model 10×10 cm2 window by approximately 7–9 °C. An analytic steady-state heat transfer model was developed to augment the experiments and make more general estimates as functions of window size, channel geometry, flow rate, and water temperature. Thin cooling layers may be added to one or more panes in multi-pane windows or as thin film non-structural central layers. Lastly, the color, optical transparency and aesthetics of the windows could be modulated by flowing different fluids that differ in their scattering or absorption properties.
Friedlander RS, Vlamakis H, Kim P, Khan M, Kolter R, Aizenberg J.
Bacterial flagella explore microscale hummocks and hollows to increase adhesion. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 2013;110 (14) :5624-5629.
Publisher's VersionAbstractBiofilms, surface-bound communities of microbes, are economically and medically important due to their pathogenic and obstructive properties. Among the numerous strategies to prevent bacterial adhesion and subsequent biofilm formation, surface topography was recently proposed as a highly nonspecific method that does not rely on small-molecule antibacterial compounds, which promote resistance. Here, we provide a detailed investigation of how the introduction of submicrometer crevices to a surface affects attachment of Escherichia coli. These crevices reduce substrate surface area available to the cell body but increase overall surface area. We have found that, during the first 2 h, adhesion to topographic surfaces is significantly reduced compared with flat controls, but this behavior abruptly reverses to significantly increased adhesion at longer exposures. We show that this reversal coincides with bacterially induced wetting transitions and that flagellar filaments aid in adhesion to these wetted topographic surfaces. We demonstrate that flagella are able to reach into crevices, access additional surface area, and produce a dense, fibrous network. Mutants lacking flagella show comparatively reduced adhesion. By varying substrate crevice sizes, we determine the conditions under which having flagella is most advantageous for adhesion. These findings strongly indicate that, in addition to their role in swimming motility, flagella are involved in attachment and can furthermore act as structural elements, enabling bacteria to overcome unfavorable surface topographies. This work contributes insights for the future design of antifouling surfaces and for improved understanding of bacterial behavior in native, structured environments.
Epstein AK, Hong D, Kim P, Aizenberg J.
Biofilm attachment reduction on bioinspired, dynamic, microwrinkling surfaces. New J. Phys. 2013;15 :095018.
Publisher's VersionAbstractMost bacteria live in multicellular communities known as biofilms that are adherent to surfaces in our environment, from sea beds to plumbing systems. Biofilms are often associated with clinical infections, nosocomial deaths and industrial damage such as bio-corrosion and clogging of pipes. As mature biofilms are extremely challenging to eradicate once formed, prevention is advantageous over treatment. However, conventional surface chemistry strategies are either generally transient, due to chemical masking, or toxic, as in the case of leaching marine antifouling paints. Inspired by the nonfouling skins of echinoderms and other marine organisms, which possess highly dynamic surface structures that mechanically frustrate bio-attachment, we have developed and tested a synthetic platform based on both uniaxial mechanical strain and buckling-induced elastomer microtopography. Bacterial biofilm attachment to the dynamic substrates was studied under an array of parameters, including strain amplitude and timescale (1–100 mm s−1), surface wrinkle length scale, bacterial species and cell geometry, and growth time. The optimal conditions for achieving up to ~ 80% Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm reduction after 24 h growth and ~ 60% reduction after 48 h were combinatorially elucidated to occur at 20% strain amplitude, a timescale of less than ~ 5 min between strain cycles and a topography length scale corresponding to the cell dimension of ~ 1 μm. Divergent effects on the attachment of P. aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli biofilms showed that the dynamic substrate also provides a new means of species-specific biofilm inhibition, or inversely, selection for a desired type of bacteria, without reliance on any toxic or transient surface chemical treatments.
Kolle M, Lethbridge A, Kreysing M, Baumberg JJ, Aizenberg J, Vukusic P.
Bio-Inspired Band-Gap Tunable Elastic Optical Multilayer Fibers. Adv. Mater. 2013;25 (15) :2239-2245.
Full Text Burgess IB, Aizenberg J, Loncar M.
Creating bio-inspired hierarchical 3D–2D photonic stacks via planar lithography on self-assembled inverse opals. Bioinspiration & Biomimetics. 2013;8 :045004.
Publisher's VersionAbstractStructural hierarchy and complex 3D architecture are characteristics of biological photonic designs that are challenging to reproduce in synthetic materials. Top–down lithography allows for designer patterning of arbitrary shapes, but is largely restricted to planar 2D structures. Self-assembly techniques facilitate easy fabrication of 3D photonic crystals, but controllable defect-integration is difficult. In this paper we combine the advantages of top–down and bottom–up fabrication, developing two techniques to deposit 2D-lithographically-patterned planar layers on top of or in between inverse-opal 3D photonic crystals and creating hierarchical structures that resemble the architecture of the bright green wing scales of the butterfly, Parides sesostris. These fabrication procedures, combining advantages of both top–down and bottom–up fabrication, may prove useful in the development of omnidirectional coloration elements and 3D–2D photonic crystal devices.
Kats MA, Byrnes SJ, Blanchard R, Kolle M, Genevet P, Aizenberg J, Capasso F.
Enhancement of absorption and color contrast in ultra-thin highly absorbing optical coatings. Appl. Phys. Lett. 2013;103 :101104.
Publisher's VersionAbstractRecently a new class of optical interference coatings was introduced which comprises ultra-thin, highly absorbing dielectric layers on metal substrates. We show that these lossy coatings can be augmented by an additional transparent subwavelength layer. We fabricated a sample comprising a gold substrate, an ultra-thin film of germanium with a thickness gradient, and several alumina films. The experimental reflectivity spectra showed that the additional alumina layer increases the color range that can be obtained, in agreement with calculations. More generally, this transparent layer can be used to enhance optical absorption, protect against erosion, or as a transparent electrode for optoelectronic devices.
Kim P, Kreder MJ, Alvarenga J, Aizenberg J.
Hierarchical or Not? Effect of the Length Scale and Hierarchy of the Surface Roughness on Omniphobicity of Lubricant-Infused Substrates. Nano Lett. 2013;13 (4) :1793-1799.
Publisher's VersionAbstractLubricant-infused textured solid substrates are gaining remarkable interest as a new class of omni-repellent nonfouling materials and surface coatings. We investigated the effect of the length scale and hierarchy of the surface topography of the underlying substrates on their ability to retain the lubricant under high shear conditions, which is important for maintaining nonwetting properties under application-relevant conditions. By comparing the lubricant loss, contact angle hysteresis, and sliding angles for water and ethanol droplets on flat, microscale, nanoscale, and hierarchically textured surfaces subjected to various spinning rates (from 100 to 10 000 rpm), we show that lubricant-infused textured surfaces with uniform nanofeatures provide the most shear-tolerant liquid-repellent behavior, unlike lotus leaf-inspired superhydrophobic surfaces, which generally favor hierarchical structures for improved pressure stability and low contact angle hysteresis. On the basis of these findings, we present generalized, low-cost, and scalable methods to manufacture uniform or regionally patterned nanotextured coatings on arbitrary materials and complex shapes. After functionalization and lubrication, these coatings show robust, shear-tolerant omniphobic behavior, transparency, and nonfouling properties against highly contaminating media.