Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Liquid marbles self-assemble from a pile of powder

Armoured ‘footballs‘ can be coaxed into cylinder and dumbbell shapes.
A liquid droplet coated with shiny solid particles floating on the surface of water

What looks like a floating disco ball is actually a ‘liquid marble’ formed from a water droplet coated in hexagonal plastic particles. Credit: F. Geyer et al./Adv. Funct. Mater.

Wrapping droplets of water in a common type of plastic creates liquid marbles, which can function as microscopic ball bearings, miniature vessels for chemical reactions, and various types of sensor.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 567, 287 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-00821-7

References

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links