Publication detail

Antidurotaxis Droplet Motion onto Gradient Brush Substrates

KAJOURI, R. THEODORAKIS, P. ŽÍDEK, J. MILCHEV, A.

Original Title

Antidurotaxis Droplet Motion onto Gradient Brush Substrates

Type

journal article in Web of Science

Language

English

Original Abstract

Durotaxis motion is a spectacular phenomenon manifesting itself by the autonomous motion of a nano-object between parts of a substrate with different stiffness. This motion usually takes place along a stiffness gradient from softer to stiffer parts of the substrate. Here, we propose a new design of a polymer brush substrate that demonstrates antidurotaxis droplet motion, that is, droplet motion from stiffer to softer parts of the substrate. By carrying out extensive molecular dynamics simulation of a coarse-grained model, we find that antidurotaxis is solely controlled by the gradient in the grafting density of the brush and is favorable for fluids with a strong attraction to the substrate (low surface energy). The driving force of the antidurotaxial motion is the minimization of the droplet-substrate interfacial energy, which is attributed to the penetration of the droplet into the brush. Thus, we anticipate that the proposed substrate design offers a new understanding and possibilities in the area of autonomous motion of droplets for applications in microfluidics, energy conservation, and biology.

Keywords

TRANSPORT; SURFACES; DRIVEN; MASS; DUROTAXIS; GRAPHENE

Authors

KAJOURI, R.; THEODORAKIS, P.; ŽÍDEK, J.; MILCHEV, A.

Released

6. 9. 2023

Publisher

American Chemical Society

Location

WASHINGTON

ISBN

1520-5827

Periodical

Langmuir

Year of study

39

Number

43

State

United States of America

Pages from

15285

Pages to

15296

Pages count

12

URL

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c01999

Full text in the Digital Library

http://hdl.handle.net/11012/245068

BibTex

@article{BUT187490,
  author="Russell {Kajouri} and Panagiotis E. {Theodorakis} and Jan {Žídek} and Andrey {Milchev}",
  title="Antidurotaxis Droplet Motion onto Gradient Brush Substrates",
  journal="Langmuir",
  year="2023",
  volume="39",
  number="43",
  pages="15285--15296",
  doi="10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c01999",
  issn="1520-5827",
  url="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c01999"
}