Scientists in Canberra have created a "self-pumping" straw with a new material that folds into a tube when touched by water and can then propel liquid.
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Researchers from the Australian National University have made a new paper-like material that can respond to just a small droplet of water by folding into a tube several centimetres long.
"We have basically created a material that self-assembles itself into a tube-like straw, a capillary, and this capillary is actually able to deliver fluids once it's been assembled," one of the lead researchers William Wong said.
"If I have a location which I wish to deliver fluids to, I do not need to be directly hovering above it, putting the fluid there. Instead I could get it to deliver itself.
"It's basically a self-pumping system that doesn't require a pump."
Mr Wong said if a drop of water was placed at one end, the material curled into a tube and could propel the liquid up to 15 centimetres away.
The team at the Nanotechnology Research Laboratory of the Research School of Engineering found the channelled water could even navigate challenging shapes such as T-intersections, forks and curves.
The material is made of two thin layers of nanofibres sandwiched together. The top layer is made of nanofibres that are water-responsive and pulls the liquid into the material while the bottom layer is strongly water-repellent and prevents the liquid from escaping once the material has rolled into a tube.
"What we've created is something that bends really easily so by having a really low bending energy requirement, we're able to get it to spontaneously create the tube-like structure," Mr Wong said.
Research group leader Associate Professor Antonio Tricoli said the material could be unrolled by adding ethanol.
Mr Wong said the new material could be used to create cheap fluid distribution systems that could be used for medical sample analysis, biological sensors or micro-robotics.
The material could also have a number of potential uses if it was produced on a larger scale.
"If you could bring it up to a metre-scale size, imagine if you have a pipeline that you wish to establish, all you need is an influx of water and the pipeline assembles itself," Mr Wong said.
Co-researcher Dr Dave Nisbet from the ANU Research School of Engineering said the material was also compatible with living tissues and because it was safe, it could be used for cheap sensors to diagnose cancer and other diseases.
The research was published in Science Advances.
