98%
921
2 minutes
20
A liquid drop may change its wettability on a surface with an applied voltage, known as electrowetting. Herein, we report an electrowetting phenomenon of a soft elastic gel, where gel elasticity plays an important role. We have designed experiments to measure the voltage-dependent adhesion energy between the gel and a metal electrode and proposed an electromechanical model for the electrowetting behavior of the gel. Our experiments have revealed that the voltage-dependent adhesion energy is an intrinsic material property of the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) gel, not affected by the electrode size, geometry, and the stressed state of the gel. Finally, we demonstrate that the predeformation of the gel can be used to tailor its electrowetting behavior.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsmacrolett.3c00062 | DOI Listing |
Soft Matter
September 2025
Nestlé Product Technology Centre, York, YO31 8FY, UK.
Particles with some degree of hydrophilicity are known to aggregate when directly dispersed in non-aqueous media. Proteins are generally insoluble in oil and have complex surface properties, but they may form networks in oil like more simple colloidal particles, depending on particle size and surface hydrophilicity. Here, the particle size of pea protein isolate (PPI) particles in oil was reduced to submicron sizes by stirred media milling.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Biol Macromol
September 2025
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, PR China. Electronic address:
Due to the poor regeneration ability of cartilage tissue, the design and fabrication of permanent hydrogel cartilage scaffolds with mechanical properties matching is still an urgent challenge. In this study, we propose an "inner swelling-outer restraint" strategy to construct Janus hydrogel for pressure-bearing cartilage replacement, which is inspired by the "Lamina-splendens" structure of cartilage. As a proof of concept, the poly(vinyl alcohol)/carboxymethyl cellulose sodium (PVA/CMCNa) layer is designed to capture more fluid by introducing negatively charged aggregates, while the macromolecular conformation of the PVA/MoS layer can be densified through wet annealing, thereby increasing the liquid permeation resistance of the PVA/CMCNa layer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTherapeutic T-cell engineering from human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) focuses on recapitulating notch1-signaling and α4β1-integrin-mediated adhesion within the thymic niche with supportive stromal cell feeder-layers or surface-immobilized recombinant protein-based engineered thymic niches (ETNs). The relevant Notch1-DLL-4 and α4β1-integrin-VCAM-1 interactions are known to respond to mechanical forces that regulate their bond dissociation behaviors and downstream signal transduction, yet manipulating the mechanosensitive features of these key receptor-ligand interactions in thymopoiesis has been largely ignored in current ETN designs. Here, we demonstrate that human T-cell development from cord blood-derived CD34 HSCs is regulated via molecular cooperativity in notch1 and integrin-mediated mechanotransduction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSoft Matter
September 2025
Mechanical Engineering Department, Institute of Applied Mathematics School of Biomedical Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
Hyperelastic material characterization is crucial for sensing and understanding the behavior of soft materials-such as tissues, rubbers, hydrogels, and polymers-under quasi-static loading before failure. Traditional methods typically rely on uniaxial tensile tests, which require the cumbersome preparation of dumbbell-shaped samples for clamping in a uniaxial testing machine. In contrast, indentation-based methods, which are non-destructive and can be conducted without sample preparation, remain underexplored.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Adv
September 2025
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Material Science, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
Assessing the mechanical properties of soft tissues holds broad clinical relevance. Advances in flexible electronics offer possibilities for wearable monitoring of tissue stiffness. However, existing technologies often rely on tethered setups or require frequent calibration, restricting their use in ambulatory environments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF