Improved Interfacial Floatability of Superhydrophobic/Superhydrophilic Janus Sheet Inspired by Lotus Leaf

Abstract

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.

Bioinspired Soot‐Deposited Janus Fabrics for Sustainable Solar Steam Generation with Salt‐Rejection

“…Cao and co‐workers found that the downside of the leaf is superhydrophilic while for the upside, due to the epicuticular wax crystalloids, it exhibits a great superhydrophobic property. Such special Janus wetting nature endows the lotus with such a prominent stability . The second is to choose cheap but excellent light absorb materials which can absorb sun light as much as possible and transform it to heat.…”

“…Such special Janus wetting nature endows the lotus with such a prominent stability. [13] The second is to choose cheap but excellent light absorb materials which can absorb sun light as much as possible and transform it to heat. For this purpose, extensive works have been performed by utilizing different kind of materials including metals, [7,[14][15][16] carbon based materials, [17][18][19][20] organic polymers, [21,22] and semiconductor nanoparticles.…”

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“…Fabrics with directional water transport ability across the thickness have received much attention owing to the smart moisture management capability useful for sportswear, workwear, health/aged cares, and defense. Two main strategies have been developed to prepare directional water transport fabrics: 1) creating a hydrophobicity‐to‐hydrophilicity gradient through fabric thickness, and (2) combining a layer of hydrophobic fibers with a layer of hydrophilic fibers . Wang and Zhou et al from our group have reported a series of methods to prepare directional water transport fabrics.…”

The Ultrafast Assembly of a Dipeptide Supramolecular Organogel and its Phase Transition from Gel to Crystal

“…[13] Recently,m any reports focus on ways to achieve directional water transportation along as olid surface by constructing well-defined architectures and/or performing chemical modifications. [14] Nevertheless,a ctive movement of water in immiscible oils seems not to have been reported, so far.…”