Liquid crystal elastomer-based reversible metamorphosis for loss-less droplet manipulation

, extreme repellency to both high and low surface tension liquids) is unexplored. In this work, we developed LCE-based superomniphobic surfaces with reversible metamorphosis by laser texturing followed by low surface energy surface modification. Our LCE-based superomniphobic surfaces display extreme repellence to both aqueous and organic liquids as well as reversible metamorphosis due to nematic-isotropic transition of LCE. Utilizing these properties, we demonstrated loss-less manipulation of aqueous and organic liquid droplets, enabling merging, mixing, chemical reaction and microfluidic gating. We envision that our LCE-based superomniphobic surfaces with reversible metamorphosis will pave the way towards a wide range of applications including microfluidic reactors, lab-on-chip technologies, adaptive liquid-handling devices, controlled drug delivery systems