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Janus superhydrophilic/hydrophobic macroporous nickel foam for directional water transport has been demonstrated via a simple floating strategy. Water can transport from hydrophobic to superhydrophilic layer through Janus nickel foam, but cannot transfer from superhydrophilic to hydrophobic layer. This “3D water diode” Janus nickel foam shows extremely high transport rate and outstanding stability. After damaged by abrasion, its directional water transport property retains well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Superhydrophobic (SHP) coatings inspired by lotus have great application prospect for our daily life. Regrettably, three formidable challenges, namely, complex fabrication, weak mechanical stability and large-scale fabrication, have already existed for a long time in this research field. Here, a robust micro-nanoscale P25 (Nano TiO 2 )/MgO/epoxy resin (ER) SHP coating has been fabricated via facile one-pot route, which can be applied to arbitrary substrates through multiples methods. P25/MgO/ER SHP coating not only displays excellent mechanical stability but also shows unique repairable ability to recover its superhydrophobicity under various damages by extreme environment such as low temperature, strong acid or alkali and this repairable process can be repeated for many times. P25/MgO/ER SHP coating also is easy to large-scale fabrication with very low cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of surface science, surface with special wettability, such as reversible or gradient, gradually becomes the focus of the field of science now. Here, via a facile, green organic solvent-free route, we have fabricated superhydrophobic hybrid MWCNTs membrane on mixed cellulose ester filter with great flexibility and tailorability. Importantly, induced by acetic acid vapour and NH 3 vapour without external energy, wettability of it can be reversibly switched between superhydrophobic (low adhesion) to hydrophobic (high adhesion). Furthermore, hybrid MWCNTs membrane can achieve diverse range of gradient wettability. The principle of theory behind phenomenon also has been explained through surface chemical composition and microscopic surface topography by means of Field-emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) images, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transformer infrared spectra (FTIR) spectroscopy. This work has solved some critical problems in this field. The limitations and potential application of our work also be summarized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recycled paper with superhydrophobicity and flame-retardancy has been demonstrated here due to the synergistic action of dopamine-silica trimethylsilyl modified gel powder and stearic acid modified Mg(OH) 2 . This multifunctional recycled paper displays great self-cleaning and anti-fouling ability and can be used for oil-water separation. Surprisingly, the absorbed organic can be reused as fuel via simple combustion method for multiple cycles. This work will not only expand the usable range of paper but also ease the energy and environment crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]