A Smart 鈥淪trider鈥?Can Float on Both Water and Oils

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• 作者：Liming Qin ; Jie Zhao ; Shengbin Lei ; Qinmin Pan
• 刊名：ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
• 出版年：2014
• 出版时间：December 10, 2014
• 年：2014
• 卷：6
• 期：23
• 页码：21355-21362
• 全文大小：560K
• ISSN：1944-8252

文摘

Aquatic devices that can work on both water and oils have great scientific and practical significance, but the challenge remains in developing novel materials with excellent repellence to both water and oils. Here, we report that an artificial 鈥渟trider鈥?can float on both water and oils by using supporting legs with ultraviolet (UV) switchable wettability. The legs were fabricated by immobilizing TiO₂ nanoparticles and n-dodecanethiol onto copper foams via a simple mussel-inspired process. At ambient conditions, the strider floated freely on a water surface, but it dived in water and then stood stably at the interface of water/CHCl₃ after UV illumination for 2 h. The reason for this unique behavior is that the legs changed their wettability from superhydrophobicity to underwater superoleophobicity after the illumination. It was revealed that the micro/nanohierarchical structures and photosensitivity of the immobilized TiO₂ nanoparticles accounted for the switchable wettability and large supporting force of the legs. The findings of this study offer an alternative strategy for fabricating smart aquatic devices that might be used for water environment protection, water resource surveillance, oil spill cleanup, and so on.

Keywords:

smart aquatic device; UV switchable wettability; TiO₂ nanoparticles; mussel-inspired process; supporting force