title: pH-induced reversible wetting transition between the underwater superoleophilicity and superoleophobicity.
abstract: Surfaces with controlled oil wettability in water have great potential for numerous underwater applications. In this work, we report a smart surface with pH-responsive oil wettability. The surface shows superoleophilicity in acidic water and superoleophobicity in basic water. Reversible transition between the two states can be achieved through alteration of the water pH. Such smart ability of the surface is due to the cooperation between the surface chemistry variation and hierarchical structures on the surface. Furthermore, we also extended this strategy to the copper mesh substrate and realized the selective oil/water separation on the as-prepared film. This paper reports a new surface with excellently controllable underwater oil wettability, and we believe such a surface has a lot of applications, for instance, microfluidic devices, bioadhesion, and antifouling materials.
authors: State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, and †Natural Science Research Center, Academy of Fundamental and Interdisciplinary Sciences, Harbin Institute of Technology , Harbin, Heilongjiang 150090, People's Republic of China.
authors: Zhongjun
authors: Z
authors: Cheng
authors: Hua
authors: H
authors: Lai
authors: Ying
authors: Y
authors: Du
authors: Kewei
authors: K
authors: Fu
authors: Rui
authors: R
authors: Hou
authors: Chong
authors: C
authors: Li
authors: Naiqing
authors: N
authors: Zhang
authors: Kening
authors: K
authors: Sun