Bioinspired Adaptive Surfaces for Intelligent Liquid Manipulation: Progressing From Passive and Active to Hybrid Strategies

Natural surfaces demonstrate sophisticated liquid manipulation through passive interfacial energy landscapes, whereas active systems rely on external stimuli for dynamic control. Bringing these strategies offers a promising route to balance energy efficiency with adaptive control. This review first outlines the principles of passive strategies and externally actuated active methods, and then critically assesses emerging hybrid approaches. Hybrid strategies utilize external energy to program the interfacial properties of passive surfaces, after which liquid motion proceeds without continuous energy input, driven by the stored interfacial energy of reconstructed surfaces. This approach, combining passive energy efficiency with active flexibility, could address the trade-off between low energy consumption and adaptable liquid manipulation. Emerging applications are further discussed across sustainable energy, environmental science, thermal management, smart manufacturing, and healthcare engineering, with guidance on selecting appropriate liquid manipulation strategies for different application scenarios. Finally, perspectives are provided on energy acquisition, material innovation, design methodologies, and system integration, envisioning a technological framework in which passive, active, and hybrid strategies advance in parallel as complementary pillars to accelerate the translation of liquid manipulation surfaces from laboratory discoveries to real-world applications.