A research team led by Professor Xiaobo Yin and Professor Liqiu Wang (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University) published a paper entitled “Selective directional liquid transport on shoot surfaces of Crassula muscosa” in Science on June 20,2024. PhD candidate Ms. Ling Yang and Postdoc Dr. Wei Li are co-first authors, Professor Xiaobo Yin, Professor Liqiu Wang (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University) and Dr. Jiaqian Li (Shandong University) are corresponding authors.
Directional liquid transport plays a crucial role in numerous applications including microfluidics, water harvesting, oil-water separation, solar desalination, and heat transfer. This property has been observed in various species such as cacti, spiders, lizards, the pitcher plant Nepenthes alata, and Araucaria leaves. Past research believed that a specific liquid can only be transported in fixed direction on species with specific liquid communication properties and cannot switch the transport direction. Recently, the HKU researchers have shown that a succulent plant, indigenous to South Africa, manipulates liquid flow in a previously unknown way - it can transport liquid unidirectionally in selective directions. This could inspire breakthroughs in a range of technologies in fluid dynamics and nature-inspired materials.
Figure 1. Researchers discovers the selective directional liquid transport on shoot surfaces of Crassula muscosa.
Details of the publication:
Selective directional liquid transport on shoot surfaces of Crassula muscosa
Ling Yang †, Wei Li†, Jiaoyuan Lian, Hengjia Zhu, Qiyu Deng, Yiyuan Zhang, Jiaqian Li*, Xiaobo Yin*, Liqiu Wang*
Abstract:
Directional liquid transport has been widely observed in various species including cacti, spiders, lizards, the pitcher plant Nepenthes alata, and Araucaria leaves. However, in all these examples the liquid transport for a specific liquid is completely restricted in a fixed direction. We demonstrate that Crassula muscosa shoot surfaces have the ability to transport a specific liquid unidirectionally in either direction. This is accomplished through the presence of asymmetric reentrant leaves with varying reentrant angles, which yields the variation in liquid meniscus heterogeneity. These findings enable engineered biomimetic structures capable of selective directional liquid transport, with functions such as intelligent flow direction switching, liquid distribution, and mixing.
Comments