The directional control of water (fluid) has been extremely important and challenging since ancient times. In recent years, Prof. Yanlei Yu's team at Fudan University has proposed a new mechanism of light-induced capillary force driving liquid transport, where light-responsive liquid crystal polymers are used to construct microchannels for accurate control of liquids. Related outcomes were published in Nature (2016, 533, 179-184). Based on such principle, the team has recently applied the light-responsive liquid crystal polymer onto the inner wall of a commercial EVA hose to construct a light-controlled double-layer microtube actuator. Thanks to its excellent flexibility and cutability, the complex microtube can be bent into a spiral, S shape, loop, or even knotted; besides, the microtube exhibits favorable liquid handling performance. The flexible microtubule actuator has potential application prospects in wearable microfluidics.

The findings were published as a cover paper in Small (2019, 15, 1901847). The first author of the paper is Bo Xu, a doctoral student of the Department of Materials Science, Fudan University; its corresponding author is Prof. Yanlei Yu.

'Polymer Science & Technology', an authoritative public account of polymer science, offered a special report on this research finding.