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Recently, the membrane separation materials show promising applications in the fields of crude oil removal because of their low energy consumption and less secondary pollution. However, the membrane separation materials suffer problem of low separation efficiency due to the high viscosity of crude oil. Here, a superhydrophobic material with Joule heat and photothermal effect was prepared by decorating the delignified wood with reduced graphene oxide (GSH) and vinyl terminated polydimethylsiloxane (V-PDMS) through thiol-ene click reaction. The prepared PDMS@GSH wood exhibited stable superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle of 156°. Meanwhile, the GSH layer provided promising electrothermal effect that endowed the PDMS@GSH wood with excellent crude oil/water separation capability under the Joule heat with a surface temperature of 139 °C and separation rate of 1.78 × 105 kg m−3 h−1. Besides, the PDMS@GSH wood displayed a good photothermal effect that assisted with the Joule heat to heat the wood for crude oil removal to save energy. More importantly, the PDMS was crosslinked with GSH on the wood via thiol-ene click reaction, leading to the stable superhydrophobicity and electrical conductivity in strong acid or alkali environment. This material has broad application prospects in crude oil clean-up due to its high separation speed and easy large-scale production. [Display omitted] • A new strategy for fabricating superhydrophobic wood with heating property is proposed. • The wood presents stable superhydrophobicity and electrical conductivity. • The wood shows excellent Joule heat and photothermal effect. • The wood exhibits high separation rate for viscous crude oil wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-cleaning films with superhydrophobicity and photocatalytic capability have attracted considerable interest in recent years for the synthetical chemical and physical self-cleaning performance to overcome individual inherent limitations. In the present work, a dual-functional self-cleaning film is proposed through the design of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) nanopillar array, swelling absorption of anatase-typed TiO 2 nanoparticles, and final low-surface-energy modification of 1 H ,1 H ,2 H ,2 H -perfluorodecyltrimethoxysilane (PFDTS). Benefiting from the hierarchically mountain-like structure constructed by the PDMS nanopillar array and swelling absorbed TiO 2 nanoparticles, the self-cleaning film presents a robust superhydrophobicity to resist chemical and mechanical damages (e.g. solvent/acid/alkali immersion, stretching, water impact, and sand abrasion). Combining the photocatalytic activity with adequate loading of TiO 2 nanoparticles, the self-cleaning film demonstrates a great degradation capability of organic pollutants with a degradation efficiency over 98 %. Importantly, owing to the superhydrophobicity repairability induced by the migration of fluorocarbon chains, the self-cleaning film can highly recover the water repellency with a water contact angle (WCA) of 155o even after long-term irradiation under UV light. The findings conceivably promote the development and application of the self-cleaning materials with superhydrophobic and photocatalytic properties. [Display omitted] • A superhydrophobic and photocatalytic self-cleaning film is reported. • The film is based on the structure of TiO 2 -modified nanopillar array. • The film exhibits durable superhydrophobicity to resist various damages. • The film demonstrates effective photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants. • The damaged film can repair superhydrophobicity via chain rearrangement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Superhydrophobic materials possess prospective applications of oily wastewater treatment due to their high efficiency and easy operation. Nevertheless, most superhydrophobic materials are difficult to separate oil-water emulsion, especially for highly viscous water-in-crude oil emulsion. Herein, a superhydrophobic wood with excellent Joule heat and demulsification was proposed by chemically treating the natural wood and subsequent coating of the carboxyl-modified carbon nanotubes (cCNTs) for providing conductive pathways, polyethylenimide (PEI) for supporting demulsification and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) for hydrophobic modification. The fabricated superhydrophobic PDMS@PEI-cCNTs wood displayed a water contact angle of 155o and great compression property with a nearly undamaged structure at a strain of 40 % after 50 compression tests, which could separate and recover oil from the oil-water mixture via absorption-extrusion process. Besides, due to the filtration and electrostatic interaction of the PDMS@PEI-cCNTs wood, the water-in-oil emulsion was demulsified quickly with a separation efficiency greater than 99.7 %. Meanwhile, the PDMS@PEI-cCNTs wood showed a good Joule heat capability, and the surface temperature reached 160 °C at 35 V of voltage within 120 s, which largely reduced the viscosity of water-in-crude oil emulsion. Thus, the PDMS@PEI-cCNTs wood was successful in separating the water-in-crude oil emulsion via Joule heat capability with a separation rate of 4.33 × 104 kg·m−3·h−1 and a separation efficiency of 93.4 %. The material developed in this study has wide range of applications in treating the stable crude oil-water emulsion with high viscosity. [Display omitted] • A new strategy for fabricating superhydrophobic wood for various oil-water emulsions separation is proposed. • The wood presents stable superhydrophobicity and good electrical conductivity. • The wood shows excellent demulsification capability via charge action, absorption and gathering. • The wood exhibits great Joule heat to promote separating viscous water-in-crude oil emulsion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Conductive superhydrophobic cotton fabric was fabricated by LBL assembly of CNTs. • The cotton fabric achieved high oil-water separation efficiency and great reusability. • The cotton fabric-based pressure sensor exhibited stable responses in human motion detection. • The pressure sensor could work even under wet and humid conditions. Conductive superhydrophobic cotton fabric was fabricated by assembling carboxylated and aminated multiwalled carbon nanotubes and modifying with polydimethylsiloxane. The cotton fabric possessed superhydrophobicity with a CA of 162°, and was successfully applied in oil-water separation with high separation efficiency and great reusability. Additionally, the conductive fabric-based pressure sensor exhibited stable and regular responses in human motion detection including finger bending, wrist movement, walking and running. Owing to the excellent water repellency of the fabric, the pressure sensor could work even under wet and humid conditions, which may pave a novel way to further broaden application field in high-performance electric sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Superhydrophilic/underwater superoleophobic coatings that effectively prevent viscous oil contamination have been of considerable interest for the great potential in oil spill remediation and oilfield wastewater treatment. In the present work, a protonated cross-linkable nanocomposite coating with robust underwater superoleophobicity and intensified hydration capability is proposed through the synthesis of active polymeric nanocomplex (PNC), cross-linking reaction between PNC and hydrophilic chitosan (CS), and final protonation to further improve water affinity. Benefiting from the hierarchical structure and strong hydration capability induced by electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bondings, the nanocomposite coating coated textile exhibits excellent superhydrophilicity (within 0.28 s with water contact angle reaching 0°), underwater superoleophobicity (underwater crude oil contact angle at 160°), and ultralow oil adhesion even to highly viscous silicone oil. Moreover, the nanocomposite coating presents a robust chemical resistance, mechanical tolerance, and storage stability. Simultaneously, the nanocomposite coating adapts well to various porous substrates (e.g., stainless steel mesh and Ni sponge) with great anti-oil-fouling and self-cleaning performances. Importantly, the coating coated textile is successfully applied in crude oil/water separation with excellent efficiency and repeatability. The findings conceivably stand out as a new methodology to fabricate superhydrophilic/underwater superoleophobic materials with outstanding anti-viscous oil-fouling property for practically treating oily wastewater. [Display omitted] • A protonated cross-linkable nanocomposite coating with underwater superoleophobicity is reported. • The PPNC-CS coating presents an outstanding hydration capability induced by charges. • The PPNC-CS coating exhibits ultralow oil adhesion even to viscous silicone oil. • The PPNC-CS adapts well to various porous substrates with great anti-oil-fouling performance. • The PPNC-CS coated textile is successfully applied in crude oil/water separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural wood, with its unique porous structure, has been widely modified for separating oil-water mixtures. However, the separation efficiency is often unsatisfactory, and little attention is focused on mitigating secondary pollution after its usable lifespan. Here, a superhydrophobic material consisting of delignified wood coated with titanium dioxide (TiO 2) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was prepared. The resulting PDMS@TiO 2 wood possessed outstanding superhydrophobicity, with a water contact angle of 160o. Owing to its longitudinal channels and excellent water repellency, the wood was successfully used to separate oil-water mixtures, with a high permeation flux of up to 6111 L·m−2·h−1 and separation efficiency of up to 93.4%. Importantly, PDMS and other oil pollutants were capable of being largely degraded after use via photocatalysis of the TiO 2 layer, and the degradation reached 8.56 wt% within 30 days. The results from this study provide a method for fabricating functional superhydrophobic wood with photocatalytic degradation ability for efficient oily wastewater treatment. [Display omitted] • A new strategy for fabricating superhydrophobic wood with anisotropic porous structure is reported. • The wood presents excellent separation flux in oil-water separation. • The wood exhibits great photocatalytic degradation ability for post-treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A fully organic and biodegradable superhydrophobic sponge is rationally constructed. • All of raw materials are derived from cheap renewable natural resources. • The sponge presents great separation performance for immiscible oil/water mixtures. • Multi-layer compressed porous structure achieves gravity-driven high-flux emulsion separation. Facile fabrication of functional superhydrophobic porous materials with full biodegradability for efficient removal of oily pollutants from water has been of considerable interest for its great significance in environmental protection. Herein, a fully organic and biodegradable superhydrophobic sponge is fabricated with carnauba wax (CW) via dip-coating, nonsolvent induced phase separation and spraying processes on a freeze-dried pomelo peel. The as-fabricated sponge was covered with flower-shaped patterns aggregated by CW nanosheets, and presented great water repellency with a contact angle of 154°. Thanks to the 3D porous architecture and superhydrophobicity/superoleophilicity, the sponge exhibited great oil absorptive capacity, oil selectivity, separation efficiency and reusability for immiscible oil/water mixtures. Interestingly, the multi-layer compressed sponges realized gravity-driven surfactant-stabilized water-in-oil emulsion separation with high permeation flux of up to 5729 L·m−2·h−1 and excellent efficiency of oil purity larger than 99.9%. Importantly, the superhydrophobic sponge was derived from cheap renewable natural resources, and capable of being completely biodegraded after discarding. The findings conceivably stand out as a new tool to fabricate superhydrophobic materials with sustainability and biodegradability for oil accidents and industrial sewage emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel stimuli-responsive superhydrophobic film driven by solvent is reported. • The SSF exhibits fast, large-scale, reliable bending actuation for the swelling discrepancy. • The SSF is successfully applied in biomimetic device, electric switch and water manipulation. • The SSF-based actuators can stably work even under wet and humid conditions. Fabrication of functional superhydrophobic materials with stimuli-responsive driving ability for the growing fields such as electric switch and liquid manipulation still remains mysterious and challenging. In this work, a stimuli-responsive superhydrophobic film (SSF) is fabricated by integrating a bottom porous poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) layer, a sandwiched cross-linkable poly(vinyl alcohol) (cPVA) layer, and a top carbon nanotubes@polydimethylsiloxane (CNTs@PDMS) layer. Induced by the asymmetric swelling of cPVA/PVDF bilayer upon exposure to acetone vapor, the SSFs directionally roll towards the superhydrophobic CNTs@PDMS surface with a large curvature of 0.65 mm−1, a fast response within 10 s, and an excellent fatigue resistance of more than 1000 actuation cycles. Furthermore, the special superhydrophobicity highly ensures the reliable actuation behavior of the SSFs under wet environments. Taking advantage of the conductivity of the CNTs@PDMS layer, the SSF-based electric switches are fabricated and conveniently actuated to control the electric circuit states of turning on/off. Additionally, thanks to the combination of water repellency and acetone vapor-responsive actuation, the SSFs are designed as smart channels for a water control system to successfully achieve the manipulation of liquid flow direction. The findings conceivably stand out as a new methodology to fabricate functional superhydrophobic materials with stimuli-responsiveness for various potential applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In single patterning, the increase of odd order diffractive power and decrease of even order diffractive power may improve the wafer alignment performance. A Fourier model is given to quantitatively describe the diffractive optical power of grating structures. Four novel alignment mark structures with higher odd order wafer qualities (WQs) have been optimized based on the model. The accuracy of our model has been validated with almost the same results for different alignment marks using our model and rigorous coupled wave analysis (RCWA). Moreover, three dimensions (3D) of alignment mark should be optimized to get higher WQs for self-aligned double patterning (SADP). Our paper proposes a model to simplify the 3D RCWA algorithm where WQs of SADP grating structures could be split into two different one-direction grating structures. The advantage of the equation makes the evaluation of different grating period of SADP mark fast, accurate and simple. The models and structures of all the designed alignment marks will make it easier for engineers to choose the property alignment mark faced with single patterning or SADP process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a facile approach to designing the robust organic-inorganic hybrid superhydrophilic coating films under UV radiation. It is based on the utilization of ene-terminated hydrophilic oligomer (ETHO) and hierarchically mesoporous silica nanoparticles (HMSNs). ETHO was firstly synthesized with dl -dithiothreitol and excess of poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate at room temperature via thiol-ene reaction, and then by spraying the methanol solution containing ETHO, HMSNs, trimethylolpropane triacrylate as crosslinking agent, and Darocur 1173 as photoinitiator on substrate, the thiol-ene/HMSNs hybrid superhydrophilic coating films were fabricated under the exposure of UV light. The structure of ETHO was confirmed by FT-IR, 1 H NMR and 13 C NMR, its molecular weight was 7600 measured by GPC. The wetting behavior of the coating films was found to be largely determined by the mass ratio of HMSNs to ETHO. With the mass ratio at 0.75, the hybrid coating films could achieve superhydrophilic state within 0.24 s, and SEM revealed the existence of double micro-nano structure on the surface, which was significant for the improvement of superhydrophilicity. Importantly, the superhydrophilicity of the coating film could be steadily maintained under the conditions of acid solution, boiling water and abrasion. Additionally, the coating films also exhibited excellent adhesion, flexibility and impact strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Novel cyano-cinnamate derivatives based on MPC inhibitor UK-5099 have been designed and synthesized. • Single-crystal incubation was carried out to confirm the E-configuration of cyano-cinnamate derivatives. • Compound 4i showed better cellular lactate production activity than UK-5099. • Compound 4i also promoted obvious hair growth on mice. Mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC) inhibitors promote the development of hair follicle stem cells without affecting normal cells, which is promising for the treatment of hair loss. Herein, a series of cyano-cinnamate derivatives of UK-5099 were designed and synthesized. All these new compounds have been tested for their ability to promote cellular lactate production in vitro. Compound 4i (LA content:0.322 μmol/106cell) showed better cellular lactate production activity than UK-5099 (LA content:0.185 μmol/106cell). Further compound 4i was also tested on shaved mice by topical treatment and promoted obvious hair growth on mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A flexible thermoelectric nanocoating with layered heterostructure was constructed. • The nanocoating exhibited accurate detection capability for the temperature rise stage of a fire. • The nanocoating triggered fire-warning within 1.5 s when encountering fire. • The coated polymer materials were difficult to be ignited during burning tests. Thermoelectric materials have attracted considerable interest in the field of fire warning because of the accuracy and repeatability of their thermoelectric effect. Nevertheless, the incompatibility between high thermoelectric efficiency and flexibility restricts their application in flexible electronic materials. Herein, the dilemma was overcome by constructing a flexible thermoelectric nanocoating with layered heterostructure through the co-assembly of thermoelectric graphene (TEG) nanosheets and carboxymethyl cellulose (CCS). Layered heterostructure not only exhibited exceptional flexibility, but also enabled repeatable sensitive thermosensation of the nanocoating. The nanocoating could accurately monitor the temperature rise stage (50–350 ℃) of a fire, and trigger the fire-warning within 1.5 s when encountering flame. Even it was reburned, the nanocoating still triggered the fire-warning within 2.6 s. Besides, the compact layered structure endowed the nanocoating with efficient flame retardancy. The coated polyester film reached a limiting oxygen index of 33.7 % and self-extinguished in vertical burning test. This flexible thermoelectric nanocoating may pave the way toward high fire safety for flexible electronic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the crude oil spill has brought inevitable harm to the global ecological environment. Due to the high-viscosity crude oil, it is wise to take advantage of the photothermal/electrothermal effects of the membrane to separate the crude oil from the water. However, the functional separation membrane always suffers from low photothermal/electrothermal effects and poor stability. Herein, the vinyl polyvinylidene fluoride/mercapto carbon nanotubes@vinyl-terminated polydimethylsiloxane (PVDF-a/CNT-s@PDMS) membrane with fast photothermal/electrothermal effects and organic absorption property was successfully prepared by electrospinning and multi-layer loading method. The prepared PVDF-a/CNT-s@PDMS membrane resisted a variety of liquids and had stable superhydrophobicity (WCA = 156°). Furthermore, the membrane maintained superhydrophobicity even suffer from water and milk under the applied voltage condition. After 100 wear resistance tests, the membrane maintained stable superhydrophobicity and the separation rate remained unchanged. The surface temperature of the membrane rapidly approached to the maximum temperature in 30 s, showing a rapid photothermal/electrothermal effects, and the average separation rate of crude oil was 1185 kg m−2 h−1·bar−1. Meanwhile, the membrane exhibited outstanding efficiency for separate immiscible oil-water mixtures. Importantly, the incorporation of the sulfhydryl group enhanced the special ability of the composite membrane to adsorb organic dyes from oil phase. Therefore, the PVDF-a/CNT-s@PDMS membrane has a wide range of potential application in the domain of oil-water separation. [Display omitted] • The superhydrophobic membrane exhibited high stability toward abrasion. • The obtained membrane possessed fast photothermal/electrothermal response. • The membrane effectively achieved various oil/water mixture separation. • The membrane possessed ability for the adsorption of organic dyes from the oil phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the environment pollution deteriorating by industrial waste water and oil leak, superhydrophobic materials for oil/water separation have attracted more attentions and become a worldwide research hotspot. Herein, we propose a facile dipping-UV curing approach to fabricating superhydrophobic hybrid coating on polyester fabric for oil/water separation by utilizing (3-mercaptopropyl) trimethoxysilane modified graphene oxide (mGO) and vinyl-terminated polydimethylsiloxane (V-PDMS). With mass ratio of mGO to V-PDMS increasing, the roughness of the fabricated mGO/PDMS hybrid coating on polyester fabric correspondingly increased and the water contact angle (WCA) reached up to 157°, demonstrating excellent water repellency. Importantly, due to the formation of crosslinked PDMS network with mGO as crosslinking points, the fabric exhibited good thermal stability and chemical resistance. Furthermore, the superhydrophobic fabric also possessed high oil/water separation efficiency at 99.8%, and still kept at 98.4% even after 15 separation cycles. Our findings stand out as a new tool to fabricate superhydrophobic materials and coatings with graphene and its derivatives for oil/water separation, showing great potential in practical applications such as oil spill accidents and industrial sewage emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With oil spill accidents and oil industrial wastewater increasing, oil/water separation has attracted much attention in recent years. Herein, we report the fabrication of superhydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic thiol-ene/silica hybrid decorated fabrics for oil/water separation via vapor-liquid interfacial reaction. It is based on sol-gel reaction of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) to generate silica and thiol-ene reaction between poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (PEGDMA) and trimethylolpropane tris(3-mercaptopropionate) (TTMP) to form crosslinked hydrophilic polymer on polyester fabric under the catalysis of butylamine/ammonia vapor. The chemical structure of the surfaces on thiol-ene/silica hybrid decorated fabric was confirmed by FTIR and XPS, and obvious micro-nano morphology and roughness were observed with SEM and AFM. The water contact angle of the fabric attained 0° in 0.36 s, and the underwater oil contact angle reached up to 160°. Importantly, the fabric exhibited high separation efficiency at 99.5%, fast water flux above 71600 Lm −2 h −1 and excellent recyclability in oil/water separation. Our findings open a new strategy to fabricate organic-inorganic hybrid superhydrophobic and underwater superoleophobic materials for oil/water separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the environmental pollution deteriorating, oil-water separation has attracted much attention in recent years. In this work, a facile method is proposed to fabricate superhydrophobic polyurethane sponge for oil-water separation via a simple dipping-drying process. It is based on the utilization of hydrophobic thiolated graphene (GSH) with the water contact angle (WCA) of 128° from graphene oxide through thiolation reaction. The WCAs of the as-prepared sponges were largely determined by the loading of GSH, and the WCAs reached 157.0° and 160.5° with GSH loadings at 5.0% and 7.5%, respectively. The GSH-based superhydrophobic sponge exhibited high absorption selectivity for different organic solvents and oils, the absorption capacity for chloroform attained 90 times and there was no decrease after 10 absorption cycles. Importantly, with the oil-water separation device composed of pump, rubber tubes and GSH-based sponge, the separation efficiency of toluene from water reached 99.7%, and still maintained 99.5% after 5 cycles. Additionally, GSH-based sponge also effectively shortened burning time and reduced black smoke in the combustion process, demonstrating good flame retardancy. Our findings provided a new strategy to fabricate superhydrophobic materials for oil-water separation, showing the great potential in large-scale practical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Superhydrophobic material has great potential applications in the field of anti-icing due to its special wettability. However, the poor wear resistance of the material has restricted its practical applications. Based on this, a simple two-step spray method was used to prepare a self-healing and robust superhydrophobic coating with excellent photothermal/electrothermal effect for anti-icing using epoxy modified ethylene octene copolymer (POEG) resin as the substrate layer and the fluorinated carbon black as the top coating. Results showed that the obtained composite coating showed multi-level rough structure and possessed excellent superhydrophobicity toward water droplets with different pH. Meanwhile, the composite coating could resist abrasion and kept superhydropbobicity even 250 cycles abrasion test with a water contact angle higher than 150o. When the surface was subjected to the intense abrasion, the rough structure and the superhydrophobic property of the surface were destroyed. However, it could be restored by the abrasion of the rougher surface. In addition, the scratches on the surface could be completely repaired by the heat treatment, indicating the good self-healing performance of the composite coating. Due to the existence of the carbon black particles, the superhydrophobic coating had good photothermal/electrothermal effects, which endowed the surface with excellent anti-icing performance of removing the icing under the conditions of electrothermal and light. This paper provides a simple and convenient way to prepare functional self-healing superhydrophobic coating, and a new idea for the preparation of anti-icing coating. [Display omitted] • The stable superhydrophobic coating showed excellent abrasion resistance performance. • The damaged composite coating could be easily repaired by heating self-healing. • The superhydrophobic coating possessed excellent electrothermal/photothermal effects. • The superhydrophobic coating showed excellent anti-icing performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]