Hybrid MWCNTs membrane with well-tunable wettability.
With the development of surface science, surface with special wettability, such as reversible or gradient, gradually becomes the focus of the field of science now. Here, via a facile, green organic solvent-free route, we have fabricated superhydrophobic hybrid MWCNTs membrane on mixed cellulose ester filter with great flexibility and tailorability. Importantly, induced by acetic acid vapour and NH3vapour without external energy, wettability of it can be reversibly switched between superhydrophobic (low adhesion) to hydrophobic (high adhesion). Furthermore, hybrid MWCNTs membrane can achieve diverse range of gradient wettability. The principle of theory behind phenomenon also has been explained through surface chemical composition and microscopic surface topography by means of Field-emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) images, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transformer infrared spectra (FTIR) spectroscopy. This work has solved some critical problems in this field. The limitations and potential application of our work also be summarized.
Hubei Collaborative Innovation Centre for Advanced Organic Chemical Materials and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for the Green Preparation and Application of Functional Materials, Hubei University, Wuhan, People's Republic of China; State Key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, People's Republic of China.
Yifan
Y
Si
Hubei Collaborative Innovation Centre for Advanced Organic Chemical Materials and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for the Green Preparation and Application of Functional Materials, Hubei University, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
Fuchao
F
Yang
Hubei Collaborative Innovation Centre for Advanced Organic Chemical Materials and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for the Green Preparation and Application of Functional Materials, Hubei University, Wuhan, People's Republic of China; State Key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: zguo@licp.cas.cn.
Zhiguang
Z
Guo
Flexibility; Gradient; MWCNTs membrane; Organic solvent-free; Reversible; Superhydrophobic