One-step laser preparation of unidirectional liquid spontaneous transport structures

Abstract The Tilted Wedge Microcavity Array (TWMA) structure of the Nepenthes alata peristome allows for unidirectional fluid transport without any surface energy gradient. However, current methods of creating bionic Nepenthes alata peristome structures have significant improvement room in terms of structural shape, machining efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. To address these issues, in this paper, bionic Nepenthes alata peristome TWMA structures on 7075 aluminium alloy was built via a nanosecond laser with highly efficiency, low cost and flexible processing pattern. A unilateral tilted microcavity structure was fabricated by designing the laser processing path, and at the same time, the samples were tilted to change the angle at which the laser beam hit the working surface. This ensures that the microcavity is machined without destroying the microcavity structure underneath. The variation law of aluminum alloy ablation threshold under the influence of laser incidence angle was studied. The dimensional parameters of the TWMA structure were analysed in relation to laser incidence angle θ , laser processing power P , number of laser scans n , and laser scanning speed V . Additionally, liquid spreading tests were carried out on different surfaces of bionic structures, and the influence of surface wettability on the spreading results was investigated. The results indicate that the ablation threshold decreases initially and then increases with an increase in the laser incidence angle. This reflects the trend of the aluminium alloy absorption rate, which initially increases and then decreases with an increase in the incidence angle. For the prepared TWMA structure, the optimum speed of achieving the unidirectional spreading effect was found to be 2.41 mm s −1 with a surface contact angle (CA) of 35°. This study presents a low-cost and rapid preparation method for creating liquid unidirectional transport structures without any energy input.