Interfacial materials exhibiting superwettability have emerged as important tools for solving the real‐world issues, such as oil‐spill cleanup, fog harvesting, etc. The Janus superwettability of ...lotus leaf inspires the design of asymmetric interface materials using the superhydrophobic/superhydrophilic binary cooperative strategy. Here, the presented Janus copper sheet, composed of a superhydrophobic upper surface and a superhydrophilic lower surface, is able to be steadily fixed at the air/water interfaces, showing improved interfacial floatability. Compared with the floatable superhydrophobic substrate, the Janus sheet not only floats on but also attaches to the air–water interface. Similar results on Janus sheet are discovered at other multiphase interfaces such as hexane/water and water/CCl4 interfaces. In accordance with the improved stability and antirotation property, the microboat constructed by a Janus sheet shows the reliable navigating ability even under turbulent water flow. This contribution should unlock more functions of Janus interface materials, and extend the application scope of the binary cooperative materials system with superwettability.
Inspired by the cooperative superwettability of a lotus leaf, it is demonstrated that a Janus sheet exhibiting versatile wettability can be stably fixed at multiphase interfaces. Based on the superhydrophobic/superhydrophilic binary cooperative effect, the Janus sheet floats on and tightly adheres to the interfaces.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Efficient solar evaporation plays an indispensable role in nature as well as the industry process. However, the traditional evaporation process depends on the total temperature increase of bulk ...water. Recently, localized heating at the air–water interface has been demonstrated as a potential strategy for the improvement of solar evaporation. Here, we show that the carbon-black-based superhydrophobic gauze was able to float on the surface of water and selectively heat the surface water under irradiation, resulting in an enhanced evaporation rate. The fabrication process of the superhydrophobic black gauze was low-cost, scalable, and easy-to-prepare. Control experiments were conducted under different light intensities, and the results proved that the floating black gauze achieved an evaporation rate 2–3 times higher than that of the traditional process. A higher temperature of the surface water was observed in the floating gauze group, revealing a main reason for the evaporation enhancement. Furthermore, the self-cleaning ability of the superhydrophobic black gauze enabled a convenient recycling and reusing process toward practical application. The present material may open a new avenue for application of the superhydrophobic substrate and meet extensive requirements in the fields related to solar evaporation.
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Here, a smart fluid‐controlled surface is designed, via the rational integration of the unique properties of three natural examples, i.e., the unidirectional wetting behaviors of butterfly's wing, ...liquid‐infused “slippery” surface of the pitcher plant, and the motile microcilia of micro‐organisms. Anisotropic wettability, lubricated surfaces, and magnetoresponsive microstructures are assembled into one unified system. The as‐prepared surface covered by tilted microcilia achieves significant unidirectional droplet adhesion and sliding. Regulating by external magnet field, the directionality of ferromagnetic microcilia can be synergistically switched, which facilitates a continuous and omnidirectional‐controllable water delivery. This work opens an avenue for applications of anisotropic wetting surfaces, such as complex‐flow distribution and liquid delivery, and extend the design approach of multi‐bioinspiration integration.
Three natural inspirations, i.e., butterfly wings, pitcher plants, and microcilia, are integrated into a surface to design multifunctional interface materials. Based on this multi‐bioinspiration, a microcilia surface lubricated by silicone oil is prepared, which achieves unidirectional wetting behavior with magnetocontrollability.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Bioinspired water-repellent materials offer a wealth of opportunities to solve scientific and technological issues. Lotus-leaf and pitcher plants represent two types of antiwetting surfaces, i.e., ...superhydrophobic and lubricant-infused “slippery” surfaces. Here we investigate the functions and applications of those two types of interfacial materials. The superhydrophobic surface was fabricated on the basis of a hydrophobic fumed silica nanoparticle/poly(dimethylsiloxane) composite layer, and the lubricant-infused “slippery” surface was prepared on the basis of silicone oil infusion. The fabrication, characteristics, and functions of both substrates were studied, including the wettability, transparency, adhesive force, dynamic droplet impact, antifogging, self-cleaning ability, etc. The advantages and disadvantages of the surfaces were briefly discussed, indicating the most suitable applications of the antiwetting materials. This contribution is aimed at providing meaningful information on how to select water-repellent substrates to solve the scientific and practical issues, which can also stimulate new thinking for the development of antiwetting interfacial materials.
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Although clean drinking water is a basic human need, freshwater scarcity has been identified as a major global problem of the 21st century. Nature has long served as a source of inspiration for human ...beings to develop new technology. The cactus in the desert possesses a multifunctional integrated fog collection system originating from the cooperation of a Laplace pressure gradient and the wettability difference. In this contribution, inspired by the cactus, an artificial fog collector on a large scale is first fabricated through integrating cactus spine‐like hydrophobic conical micro‐tip arrays with the hydrophilic cotton matrix. The novel cactus‐inspired fog collector can spontaneously and continuously collect, transport, and preserve fog water, demonstrating high fog collection efficiency and promising applications in the regions with drinking water scarcity. Furthermore, the present approach is simple, time‐saving and cost‐effective, which provides a potential device and new idea to solve the global water crisis.
Inspired by the fog‐harvesting behavior of the cactus, a novel fog collector in large scale is first fabricated through integrating cactus spine‐like hydrophobic conical micro‐tip arrays with a hydrophilic cotton matrix, which can spontaneously and continuously collect, transport, and preserve fog water.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Understanding the behavior of gas bubbles in aqueous media and realizing their spontaneous and directional manipulation are of vital importance in both scientific research and industrial ...applications, owing to their significant influences on many processes, such as waste water treatment, gas evolution reactions, and the recovery of valuable minerals. However, the behaviors of gas bubbles in aqueous media are mainly dominated by the buoyant force, which greatly impedes gas bubble transportation to any other direction except upward. Consequently, the spontaneous and directional transportation of gas bubbles in aqueous media is still identified as a big issue. Here, superhydrophobic copper cones have been successfully fabricated by integrating low‐surface‐tension chemical coatings with conical morphology. The generated superhydrophobic copper cones are capable of transporting gas bubbles from their tip to the base spontaneously and directionally underwater, even when they are vertically fixed with tips pointing up. The present study will inspire people to develop novel strategies to achieve efficient manipulation of gas bubbles in practical applications.
Superhydrophobic cones are fabricated by applying superhydrophobic coating to copper cones. Arising from its superhydrophobic wettability and conical morphology, the superhydrophobic cone carries a stable air film and possesses a Laplace pressure gradient. Assisted by these properties, the superhydrophobic cone can facilitate spontaneous sand directional transport of gas bubbles, especially microscopic bubbles.
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Biosurfaces with geometry-gradient structures or special wettabilities demonstrate intriguing performance in manipulating the behaviors of versatile fluids. By mimicking natural species, that is, the ...cactus spine with a shape-gradient morphology and the Picher plant with a lubricated inner surface, we have successfully prepared an asymmetric slippery surface by following the processes of CO2-laser cutting, superhydrophobic modification, and the fluorinert infusion. The asymmetric morphology will cause the deformation of gas bubbles and subsequently engender an asymmetric driven force on them. Due to the infusion of fluorinert, which has a low surface energy (∼16 mN/m, 25 °C) and an easy fluidic property (∼0.75 cP, 25 °C), the slippery surface demonstrates high adhesive force (∼300 μN) but low friction force on the gas bubbles. Under the cooperation of the asymmetric morphology and fluorinert infused surface, the fabricated asymmetric slippery surface is applicable to the directional and continuous bubble delivery in an aqueous environment. More importantly, due to the hard-compressed property of fluorinert, the asymmetric slippery surface is facilitated with distinguished bubble transport capability even in a pressurized environment (∼0.65 MPa), showing its feasibility in practical industrial production. In addition, asymmetric slippery surfaces with a snowflake-like structure and a star-shaped structure were successfully fabricated for the real-world applications, both of which illustrated reliable performances in the continuous generation, directional transportation, and efficient collection of CO2 and H2 microbubbles.
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Under-water and unidirectional air penetration, viz. air "diode", was effectively achieved on the basis of a composite mesh with Janus wettability. In the aqueous solution, the air bubbles can only ...pass through the mesh from the hydrophilic side to the superhydrophobic side, whereas they will be blocked from the opposite direction.
As one common form of gas existing in aqueous environment, gas bubbles have attracted considerable worldwide attention, owing to their promising applications in industrial production and daily life, ...such as pressure sensors, the recovery of valuable minerals from ores, aeration process, and water treatment. Usually, the behaviors of gas bubbles in aqueous environment are mainly dominated by buoyancy force. It drives the gas bubbles out of aqueous medium rapidly, which is unfavorable in various processes, especially in wastewater treatment. In this paper, various types of superhydrophobic poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) sheets are facilely fabricated, such as five‐pointed star, triangle, circular, and ellipse. Compared with other shapes of superhydrophobic PMMA sheets, the prepared superhydrophobic PMMA circular sheet is capable of efficiently adhering gas bubbles and subsequently elongating their retention time in an aqueous environment. Furthermore, superhydrophobic PMMA circular sheet arrays are prepared, which can greatly improve the degradation efficiency of methyl blue by ozone (O3). The investigations indicate that the present approach will find wild applications in bubble‐related fields and provide people with inspirations to develop efficient methods to manipulate gas bubbles in aqueous environment.
Utilizing laser cutting and superhydrophobic surface coating, superhydrophobic poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) circular sheets (SPCS) are facilely fabricated. The prepared SPCS can elongate the retention time and enlarge the contact area of bubbles in water. Furthermore, integrating the superhydrophobic PMMA circular sheet arrays with O3 improves the degradation efficiency of dye pollutants by O3.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
As research on superhydrophobic materials inspired by the self-cleaning and water-repellent properties of plants and animals in nature continues, the superhydrophobic preparation methods and the ...applications of superhydrophobic surfaces are widely reported. Silicones are preferred for the preparation of superhydrophobic materials because of their inherent hydrophobicity and strong processing ability. In the preparation of superhydrophobic materials, silicones can both form micro-/nano-structures with dehydration condensation and reduce the surface energy of the material surface because of their intrinsic hydrophobicity. The superhydrophobic layers of silicone substrates are characterized by simple and fast reactions, high-temperature resistance, UV resistance, and anti-aging. Although silicone superhydrophobic materials have the disadvantages of relatively low mechanical stability, this can be improved by the rational design of the material structure. Herein, we summarize the superhydrophobic surfaces made from silicone substrates, including the cross-linking processes of silicones through dehydration condensation and hydrosilation, and the surface hydrophobic modification by grafting hydrophobic silicones. The applications of silicone-based superhydrophobic surfaces have been introduced such as self-cleaning, corrosion resistance, oil-water separation, etc. This review article should provide an overview to the bioinspired superhydrophobic surfaces of silicone-based materials, and serve as inspiration for the development of polymer interfaces and colloid science.
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