Inorganic Surface Coating with Fast Wetting–Dewetting Transitions for Liquid Manipulations

Liquid manipulation is a fundamental issue for microfluidics and miniaturized sensors. Fast wetting-state transitions by optical methods have proven being efficient for liquid manipulations by organic surface coatings, however rarely been achieved by using inorganic coatings. Here, we report a fast optical-induced wetting-state transition surface achieved by inorganic coating, enabling tens of second transitions for a wetting–dewetting cycle, shortened from an hour, as typically reported. Here, we demonstrate a gravity-driven microfluidic reactor and switch it to a mixer after a second-step exposure in a minimum of within 80 s of UV exposure. The fast wetting–dewetting transition surfaces enable the fast switchable or erasable smart surfaces for water collection, miniature chemical reaction, or sensing systems by using inorganic surface coatings