In situ reversible underwater superwetting transition by electrochemical atomic alternation

Materials with in situ reversible wettability have attractive properties but remain a challenge to use since the inverse process of liquid spreading is normally energetically unfavorable. Here, we propose a general electrochemical strategy that enables the in situ reversible superwetting transition...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2019-03, Vol.10 (1), p.1212-1212, Article 1212
Main Authors: Wang, Qianbin, Xu, Bojie, Hao, Qing, Wang, Dong, Liu, Huan, Jiang, Lei
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/301/923/1030
639/638/440/94
Antimony
Aqueous electrolytes
Biofuels
Copper
Depletion
Electrochemistry
Gold
Humanities and Social Sciences
Hydrogen bonding
Hydroxyl groups
Lead
multidisciplinary
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Surface energy
Surface properties
Tin
Underwater
Underwater construction
Wettability
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Summary:Materials with in situ reversible wettability have attractive properties but remain a challenge to use since the inverse process of liquid spreading is normally energetically unfavorable. Here, we propose a general electrochemical strategy that enables the in situ reversible superwetting transition between underwater superoleophilicity and superoleophobicity by constructing a binary textured surface. Taking the copper/tin system as an example, the surface energy of the copper electrode can be lowered significantly by electrodeposited tin, and be brought back to the initial high-energy state as a result of dissolving tin by removing the potential. Tin atoms with the water depletion layer inhibit the formation of a hydrogen-bonding network, causing oil droplets to spread over the surface, while copper atoms, with a high affinity for hydroxyl groups, facilitate replacing the oil layer with the aqueous electrolyte. The concept is applicable to other systems, such as copper/lead, copper/antimony, gold/tin, gold/lead and gold/antimony, for both polar and nonpolar oils, representing a potentially useful class of switchable surfaces. Materials with in situ reversible wettability have attractive properties for switching applications, but are a challenge to use especially for the inverse process of liquid spreading. Here, the authors propose an electrochemical strategy enabling in situ reversible superwetting conversion between underwater superoleophilicity and superoleophobicity by constructing a binary textured surface.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-019-09201-1