Under-Oil Switchable Superhydrophobicity to Superhydrophilicity Transition on Well-Designed Sponge-Like Nanofibrous Membrane

Recently, smart interfacial materials that can reversibly transit between the superhydrophobicity and superhydrophilicity have aroused much attention. However, all present performances happen in air, and to realize such a smart transition in complex environments, such as oil, is still a challenge. Herein, well-desighned sponge-like nanofibrous membrane with switchable transition between the superhydrophobicity and superhydrophilicity in oil are reported. The switching can be observed by alternation of pre-wetting, washing and heating process, and the smart controllability can be ascribed to the cooperative effect between the surface nanostructures and the chemical composition variation. This paper reports a surface with smart water wettability in oil, which could start some fresh ideas for wetting control on interfacial materials

Keywords:

nanofibrous membrane , under-oil , wettability switching , superhydrophobicity , superhydrophilicity