Controllable domain morphology in coated poly(lactic acid) films for high-efficiency and high-precision transportation of water droplet arrays

Abstract

Construction of superhydrophobic surfaces with tunable adhesion force has attracted considerable attention in past decades. Here, we demonstrated an exfoliated surface in non-solvent-coated poly(lactic acid) (PLA) films which exhibited controllable domain morphology containing “face-on”, “edge-on” or “peak-on” nano-/micro-structures. A theoretical understanding revealed that such controllable morphology responded closely to the variation in mixture viscosities at a fixed temperature. Furthermore, the resulting films were highly superhydrophobic with contact angles >150°. In particular, adhesion could be tuned ranging from 144 μN to 62 μN for face-on and peak-on surfaces, respectively, by changing the non-solvent content. This strategy allowed for high-efficiency and high-precision transportation of water microdroplets (1 μL) with a yield of ≤100% on homogeneous surfaces. This approach could aid no-mass-lost fluid transportation for a broad variety of applications in bioengineering and biochips.