Microfluidics: Recapillarity: Electrochemically Controlled Capillary Withdrawal of a Liquid Metal Alloy from Microchannels (Adv. Funct. Mater. 5/2015).

Liquid metals composed of gallium stay within networks of microfluidic channels due to the presence of a thin surface oxide that forms spontaneously on the surface of the metal. On page 671 M. R. Khan, C. Trlica, and M. D. Dickey use “recapillarity” to reduce the surface oxide and thereby turn on capillary behavior locally in a manner that withdraws the metal from the channels and solves the maze. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]