A facile approach to achieve bioinspired PDMS@Fe3O4 fabric with switchable wettability for liquid transport and water collection

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Vol. 6; no. 45; pp. 22741 - 22748
• Main Authors: Li, Deke, Huang, Jinxia, Han, Guocai, Guo, Zhiguang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 2018
• Subjects: Droplets; Fabrics; Fog; Harvesting; Iron oxides; Lubricants; Magnetic fields; Mimicry; Polydimethylsiloxane; Repellency; Silicone resins; Switching; Transport; Water harvesting; Wettability
• ISSN: 2050-7488; 2050-7496
• DOI: 10.1039/c8ta08993k

Inspired by the lotus and pitcher plants, a transformable liquid repellent fabric surface was fabricated through a facile one-pot method. The as-prepared PDMS@Fe3O4 fabric surface can not only repel liquid droplets akin to the lotus leaf, but also to some extent maintain a nearly lubricant-infused slippery surface with a continuous film, mimicking the rim of the pitcher plant. Furthermore, the orientation of its microcilia can be changed by adjusting the magnetic field orientation, demonstrating that a reversible liquid-repellent switching mode can be achieved on-demand. Taking advantage of the switching wetting state, the transformable surface can convert between the lotus state and pitcher plant state, and accordingly keep the desired droplet mobility. In addition, the transformable surface with the ability to dynamically alter liquid repellency can be used for manipulating liquid repellency, anisotropic self-cleaning, unidirectional water manipulation, programmable fog harvesting and transport.