Superoleophobic surfaces

Abstract

Superoleophobicity is a phenomenon where the contact angles of various oil droplets with low surface tension on a solid surface are larger than 150°. In the past few years, there has been much growing interest in the design and application of superoleophobic surfaces. Such surfaces have great significance for both fundamental research and a variety of practical applications, including oil-repellent coatings, self-cleaning, oil/water separation, oil droplet manipulation, chemical shielding, anti-blocking, designing liquid microlens, oil capture, bioadhesion, guiding oil movement and floating on oil. Herein, we systematically summarize the recent developments of superoleophobic surfaces. This review focuses on the design, fabrication, characteristics, functions, and important applications of various superoleophobic surfaces. Although many significant advances have been achieved, superoleophobic surfaces are still in their "toddler stage" of development. The current challenges and future prospects of this fast-growing field of superoleophobicity are discussed.

Micro‐/Nanostructured Interface for Liquid Manipulation and Its Applications

“…So these creatures had been major sources from which researchers got inspiration for science and technology. Starting from the bioinspired interfaces that simply mimicked the concept of living creatures to newly developing materials with more delicate microscale and nanoscale structures, and reasonably, with high‐performance liquid manipulation capabilities, micro‐/nanostructured interfaces had been reported and found their applications in various areas, including research, daily life, medication, industry and environment …”

Special wettable nanostructured copper mesh achieved by a facile hot water treatment process

“…Generally, surfaces with extreme wetting properties, such as superhydrophobic, superhydrophilic, superoleophobic, and superoleophilic surface have been found wide research interests due to their promising applications [13][14][15][16]. Also, surfaces own special wettability, such as superhydrophobic and superoleophilic surfaces, have been arousing inclusive interests due to their looked-for and on-demand applications in oil-water separation [17,18].…”

Reversible switch between underwater superaerophilicity and superaerophobicity on the superhydrophobic nanowire-haired mesh for controlling underwater bubble wettability

“…Therefore, the water droplet on the mesh is at the Cassie wetting state. 22,23,26 As shown in Figure 4a, the droplet is just in contact with the top peaks of the nanowires of the rough mesh, without wetting the surface microstructures. The air filled in the surface microstructure forms a trapped air cushion underneath this water droplet.…”

“…The superhydrophobicity is ascribed to the combined effect of the hierarchical rough microstructure and the low-surface-energy modification. [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] Similar with the micro/nanoscale hierarchical structure of the superhydrophobic lotus leaf surface, both the microscale mesh structure and the nanowires contribute to the superhydrophobicity of the as-prepared mesh surface. [31][32][33][34][35] The water droplet on the mesh is at the Cassie wetting state, resulting in a high CA value and ultralow water adhesion.…”