image: There are numerous fields in which LCIMs can be utilized, including air purification, multiphase separation, emulsification industry, smart agriculture, substance testing, microfluidics, and biomedical engineering.
Credit: ©Science China Press
In the evolving landscape of materials science, the emergence of liquid-solid composites has revolutionized the field by introducing the dynamic composite interfaces and leveraging the fluidic nature of liquids. These materials have rapidly gained attention for their unique features, such as defect-free, molecularly smooth surfaces and adaptive capabilities. This perspective review introduces a new insight on the confined interface behaviors in this field: liquid-based confined interface materials. These materials integrate confined liquids within solid frameworks at the mesoscale, driven by competitive multiphase interfacial interactions. They exhibit remarkable practical functionalities, including anti-fouling, multiphase flow control, and drag reduction.
This article introduces the design and preparation of liquid-based confined interface materials, focusing on the collaborative and complementary integration of confined liquids and solid frameworks. By leveraging synergistic responses such as force, heat, light, electricity, magnetism, and sound, they demonstrate the construction of liquid-based confined interface materials with dynamic responsiveness. Furthermore, they discuss liquid-based confined interface materials through four representative confined liquid motion behaviors—translation, rotation, strain, and mixing—to explore the competitive interactions of multiphase fluids within confined interfaces and their impact on material functions and performance. They also introduce the latest advancements in these materials, including air purification, multiphase separation, emulsification industry, smart agriculture, substance testing, microfluidics, and biomedical engineering.
The authors also discuss the future challenges and opportunities for these materials, focusing on enhancing material stability and durability under complex conditions, improving performance through intelligent design, and harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) to expand functionalities. By integrating AI, LCIMs could achieve intelligent interface control, offering innovative solutions for efficient design and scalable applications. The perspective review provides new insights into liquid-solid composites, offering a pathway for future innovations and performance enhancements in liquid-based confined interface materials. Professor Xu Hou from Xiamen University is the corresponding author of the paper, and Dr. Shijie Yu, a postdoctoral fellow, is the first author of the paper.
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See the article:
Liquid-solid composites with confined interface behaviors
https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwae42
Journal
National Science Review