Browse
Submit Data
Databases
API
Help

Dataset Information

0 Views

0 Connections

0 Citations

0 Reanalyses

0 Downloads

Omics score: 0

Conditions for Barrel and Clam-Shell Liquid Drops to Move on Bio-inspired Conical Wires.

ABSTRACT: It has been reported that, in a foggy environment, water drops with either barrel or clam-shell shapes are capable of self-running on conical wire-like structures, such as cactus spines, spider silk, and water striders' legs. On the other hand, the corresponding moving mechanisms are still not quite understood. For instance, it is unclear under what conditions clam-shell drops would move from the tip towards the root on a conical wire. In this work, based on the balance of forces, we derive conditions for a drop to self-transport towards or away from the root. We find that, although barrel and clam-shell drops have different shapes, these conditions are applicable to both of them, which thus provide good guidelines for developing artificial fog collectors. Furthermore, based on the derived conditions, we interpret drop movements on both hydrophilic and hydrophobic wires, with the support of experimental results on cactus spines. Finally, our results indicate that not all the cacti are able to harvest water from fog.

SUBMITTER: Luo C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5575085 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Json Xml

Publications

Conditions for Barrel and Clam-Shell Liquid Drops to Move on Bio-inspired Conical Wires.

Luo Cheng C Wang Xiang X

Scientific reports 20170829 1

It has been reported that, in a foggy environment, water drops with either barrel or clam-shell shapes are capable of self-running on conical wire-like structures, such as cactus spines, spider silk, and water striders' legs. On the other hand, the corresponding moving mechanisms are still not quite understood. For instance, it is unclear under what conditions clam-shell drops would move from the tip towards the root on a conical wire. In this work, based on the balance of forces, we derive cond ...[more]

PMID: 28852102

Similar Datasets

Turbo-Synergistic Oily Wastewater Remediation in Bio-Inspired Cone Array Barrel.

Project description:Oily wastewater discharge causes not only the pollution of environment but also the waste of resources. Existing technologies for wastewater remediation, such as membrane and particle methods, are variable and effective, but are difficult for achieving continuous and rapid oil-water separation. Here, with the synergy of turbo stirring, a strategy for emulsion separation is demonstrated based on the bio-inspired cone array barrel. Under the centrifugal force, oil droplets in emulsion are thrown onto the cones arrayed on inner wall due to the Coriolis effect, captured by microstructures on cone surface and then penetrate out through the superhydrophobic pores, while only the remediated water remains. The separation technique maintains a high efficiency of above 99.5% for over 30 times of use, as well as for emulsions with variable ingredients. This structure-dynamics synergistic separation strategy evolves the future technologies on water purification in industrial and daily processes.

| S-EPMC9685448 | biostudies-literature

Bio-inspired synthesis of aqueous nanoapatite liquid crystals.

Project description:The macroscopically ordered structure of rod-like nanoapatites within the collagen matrix is of great significance for the mechanical performance of bones and teeth. However, the synthesis of macroscopically ordered nanoapatite remains a challenge. Inspired by the effect of citrate molecules on apatite crystals in natural bone and the similarities between these ordered rod-like nanoapatites and the nematic phase of inorganic liquid crystals (LCs), we synthesized aqueous liquid crystal from rod-like nanoapatites with the aid of sodium citrate. Following a similar procedure, aqueous Mg(OH)2 and Mg3(PO4)2 LCs were also prepared. These findings lay the foundation for the fabrication of macroscopically assembled nanoapatite-based functional materials for biomedical applications and offer a green chemical synthesis platform for the development of new types of inorganic LCs. This process may reduce the difficulties in synthesizing large quantities of inorganic LCs so that they can be applied to the fabrication of functional materials.

| S-EPMC6345739 | biostudies-literature

Liquid sculpture and curing of bio-inspired polyelectrolyte aqueous two-phase systems.

Project description:Aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) provide imperative interfaces and compartments in biology, but the sculpture and conversion of liquid structures to functional solids is challenging. Here, inspired by phase evolution of mussel foot proteins ATPS, we tackle this problem by designing poly(ionic liquids) capable of responsive condensation and phase-dependent curing. When mixed with poly(dimethyl diallyl ammonium chloride), the poly(ionic liquids) formed liquid condensates and ATPS, which were tuned into bicontinuous liquid phases under stirring. Selective, rapid curing of the poly(ionic liquids)-rich phase was facilitated under basic conditions (pH 11), leading to the liquid-to-gel conversion and structure sculpture, i.e., the evolution from ATPS to macroporous sponges featuring bead-and-string networks. This mechanism enabled the selective embedment of carbon nanotubes in the poly(ionic liquids)-rich phase, which showed exceptional stability in harsh conditions (10 wt% NaCl, 80 oC, 3 days) and high (2.5 kg/m2h) solar thermal desalination of concentrated salty water under 1-sun irradiation.

| S-EPMC10147642 | biostudies-literature

Bright core-shell semiconductor quantum wires.

Project description:Colloidal CdTe quantum wires are reported having ensemble photoluminescence efficiencies as high as 25% under low excitation-power densities. High photoluminescence efficiencies are achieved by formation of a monolayer CdS shell on the CdTe quantum wires. Like other semiconductor nanowires, the CdTe quantum wires may contain frequent wurtzite-zinc-blende structural alternations along their lengths. The present results demonstrate that the optical properties, emission-peak shape and photoluminescence efficiencies, are independent of the presence or absence of such structural alternations.

| S-EPMC3508702 | biostudies-literature

Bio-inspired untethered fully soft robots in liquid actuated by induced energy gradients.

Project description:Soft robotics with new designs, fabrication technologies and control strategies inspired by nature have been totally changing our view on robotics. To fully exploit their potential in practical applications, untethered designs are preferred in implementation. However, hindered by the limited thermal/mechanical performance of soft materials, it has been always challenging for researchers to implement untethered solutions, which generally involve rigid forms of high energy-density power sources or high energy-density processes. A number of insects in nature, such as rove beetles, can gain a burst of kinetic energy from the induced surface-energy gradient on water to return to their familiar habitats, which is generally known as Marangoni propulsion. Inspired by such a behavior, we report the agile untethered mobility of a fully soft robot in liquid based on induced energy gradients and also develop corresponding fabrication and maneuvering strategies. The robot can reach a speed of 5.5 body lengths per second, which is 7-fold more than the best reported, 0.69 (body length per second), in the previous work on untethered soft robots in liquid by far. Further controlling the robots, we demonstrate a soft-robot swarm that can approach a target simultaneously to assure a hit with high accuracy. Without employing any high energy-density power sources or processes, our robot exhibits many attractive merits, such as quietness, no mechanical wear, no thermal fatigue, invisibility and ease of robot fabrication, which may potentially impact many fields in the future.

| S-EPMC8291417 | biostudies-literature

Bio-inspired reversible underwater adhesive.

Project description:The design of smart surfaces with switchable adhesive properties in a wet environment has remained a challenge in adhesion science and materials engineering. Despite intense demands in various industrial applications and exciting progress in mimicking the remarkable wet adhesion through the delicate control of catechol chemistry, polyelectrolyte complex, and supramolecular architectures, the full recapitulation of nature's dynamic function is limited. Here, we show a facile approach to synthesize bioinspired adhesive, which entails the reversible, tunable, and fast regulation of the wet adhesion on diverse surfaces. The smart wet adhesive takes advantage of the host-guest molecular interaction and the adhesive nature of catechol chemistry, as well as the responsive polymer, allowing for screening and activation of the interfacial interaction simply by a local temperature trigger in an on-demand manner. Our work opens up an avenue for the rational design of bioinspired adhesives with performances even beyond nature.

| S-EPMC5738439 | biostudies-literature

Bio-inspired self-shaping ceramics.

Project description:Shaping ceramics into complex and intricate geometries using cost-effective processes is desirable in many applications but still remains an open challenge. Inspired by plant seed dispersal units that self-fold on differential swelling, we demonstrate that self-shaping can be implemented in ceramics by programming the material's microstructure to undergo local anisotropic shrinkage during heat treatment. Such microstructural design is achieved by magnetically aligning functionalized ceramic platelets in a liquid ceramic suspension, subsequently consolidated through an established enzyme-catalysed reaction. By fabricating alumina compacts exhibiting bio-inspired bilayer architectures, we achieve deliberate control over shape change during the sintering step. Bending, twisting or combinations of these two basic movements can be successfully programmed to obtain a myriad of complex shapes. The simplicity and the universality of such a bottom-up shaping method makes it attractive for applications that would benefit from low-waste ceramic fabrication, temperature-resistant interlocking structures or unusual geometries not accessible using conventional top-down manufacturing.

| S-EPMC5196359 | biostudies-literature

Bio-inspired liposomal thrombomodulin conjugate through bio-orthogonal chemistry.

Project description:We report the synthesis of bioinspired liposomal thrombomodulin (TM) conjugates by chemoselective and site-specific liposomal conjugation of recombinant TM at C-terminus. TM is an endothelial cell membrane protein that acts as a major cofactor in the protein C anticoagulant pathway. To closely mimic membrane protein structural features of TM, we proposed membrane-mimetic re-expression of recombinant TM onto liposome. A recombinant TM containing the EGF-like 456 domains and an azidohomoalanine at C-terminus was expressed in E. coli. Conjugation of the recombinant TM onto liposome via Staudinger ligation and copper-free click chemistry were investigated as an optimal platform for exploring membrane protein TM's activity, respectively. The bioinspired liposomal TM conjugates were confirmed with Western blotting and protein C activation activity. The recombinant TM-liposome conjugates showed a 2-fold higher k(cat)/K(m) value for protein C activation than that of the recombinant TM alone, which indicated that the lipid membrane has a beneficiary effect on the recombinant TM's activity. The reported liposomal protein conjugate approach provides a rational design strategy for both studying membrane protein TM's functions and generating a membrane protein TM-based anticoagulant agent.

| S-EPMC3630279 | biostudies-literature

Novel Riboflavin-Inspired Conjugated Bio-Organic Semiconductors.

Project description:Flavins are known to be extremely versatile, thus enabling routes to innumerable modifications in order to obtain desired properties. Thus, in the present paper, the group of bio-inspired conjugated materials based on the alloxazine core is synthetized using two efficient novel synthetic approaches providing relatively high reaction yields. The comprehensive characterization of the materials, in order to evaluate the properties and application potential, has shown that the modification of the initial alloxazine core with aromatic substituents allows fine tuning of the optical bandgap, position of electronic orbitals, absorption and emission properties. Interestingly, the compounds possess multichromophoric behavior, which is assumed to be the results of an intramolecular proton transfer.

| S-EPMC6225382 | biostudies-other

Cell spheroid fusion: beyond liquid drops model.

Project description:Biological self-assembly is crucial in the processes of development, tissue regeneration, and maturation of bioprinted tissue-engineered constructions. The cell aggregates-spheroids-have become widely used model objects in the study of this phenomenon. Existing approaches describe the fusion of cell aggregates by analogy with the coalescence of liquid droplets and ignore the complex structural properties of spheroids. Here, we analyzed the fusion process in connection with structure and mechanical properties of the spheroids from human somatic cells of different phenotypes: mesenchymal stem cells from the limbal eye stroma and epithelial cells from retinal pigment epithelium. A nanoindentation protocol was applied for the mechanical measurements. We found a discrepancy with the liquid drop fusion model: the fusion was faster for spheroids from epithelial cells with lower apparent surface tension than for mesenchymal spheroids with higher surface tension. This discrepancy might be caused by biophysical processes such as extracellular matrix remodeling in the case of mesenchymal spheroids and different modes of cell migration. The obtained results will contribute to the development of more realistic models for spheroid fusion that would further provide a helpful tool for constructing cell aggregates with required properties both for fundamental studies and tissue reparation.

| S-EPMC7387529 | biostudies-literature

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

OmicsDI is an Elixir interoperability service. Learn more ›

Tweets

OmicsDI Databases

PRIDE
PeptideAtlas
MassIVE
JPOST Repository
Physiome Model Repository

EGA
EVA
ENA
LINCS
PAXDB
Cell Collective

MetaboLights
Metabolomics Workbench
MetabolomeExpress
GNPS
BioModels
FAIRDOMHub

ArrayExpress
dbGaP
ExpressionAtlas
GEO
NODE

Information

Databases
Help
API
Contact us
Code on GitHub
Terms of use
Submit Data