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Radiative cooling materials can cool terrestrial objects without any energy input but are susceptible to rain wetting and dust contamination, which affects badly their cooling characteristics. Herein, this work fabricated a radiative cooling porous film with superhydrophobic self-cleaning properties using poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) and poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF). The PVDF-HFP/PVDF film consists of micropores with nanoparticles both inside and at the surface. The micro/nanostructures enhanced the scattering of solar light, which in combination with the infrared emissivity of both PVDF-HFP and PVDF polymers makes the film show excellent radiative cooling ability with a sub-ambient temperature drop of 16°C. The micro/nanostructures roughened the surface of the film, which in combination with the low surface energy property of both PVDF-HFP and PVDF polymers endows the film with superhydrophobic self-cleaning properties. The self-cleaning function defends the film from contamination and maintains sustainable radiative cooling for lasting applications. The integration of cooling and self-cleaning into a film paves the way for multifunctional and long-life radiative cooling materials.

Passive daytime radiative cooling (PDRC) technology provides an eco-friendly cooling strategy by reflecting sunlight reaching the surface and radiating heat underneath to the outer space through the atmospheric transparency window. However, PDRC materials face challenges in cooling performance degradation caused by outdoor contamination and requirements of easy fabrication approaches for scale-up and high cooling efficiency. Herein, a polymer composite coating of polystyrene, polydimethylsiloxane and poly(ethyl cyanoacrylate) (PS/PDMS/PECA) with superhydrophobicity and radiative cooling performance was fabricated and demonstrated to have sustained radiative cooling capability, utilizing the superhydrophobic self-cleaning property to maintain the optical properties of the coating surface. The prepared coating is hierarchically porous which exhibits an average solar reflectance of 96% with an average emissivity of 95% and superhydrophobicity with a contact angle of 160°. The coating realized a subambient radiative cooling of 12.9 °C in sealed air and 7.5 °C in open air. The self-cleaning property of the PS/PDMS/PECA coating helped sustain the cooling capacity for long-term outdoor applications. Moreover, the coating exhibited chemical resistance, UV resistance, and mechanical durability, which has promising applications in wider fields.

Traditional electric cooling in summer and coal heating in winter consume a huge amount of energy and lead to a greenhouse effect. Herein, we developed an energy-free dual-mode superhydrophobic film, which consists of a white side with porous coating of styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene/SiO

The study selects 50 senior people at the age of more than 60 and 30 young people at the age of 18-26 as test group and control group respectively, including people with mild foot disease, such as flat feet, pes cavus and hallux valgus. Questionnaire survey of effective data volume and observation are used to understand common problems of the foot in the elderly, collect shape photos of the foot in senior people, and subjectively analyze their foot shape and gait characteristics. Footscan plate plantar pressure test system and Kistler 3D force platform are used to objectively analyze plantar pressure distribution and gait characteristics of subjects. According to study results: Toe-out gait causes the plantar pressure to move to the forefoot, therefore, the forefoot is the part with the highest risk of injury of foot in toe-out gait, especially the first toe, causing hallux valgus and various foot problems. The toe-out gait causes increase of gait cycle, slow walking speed, poor buffer effect, and may bring pain in feet and lower extremities, thus affecting the dynamic characteristics of the entire lower limb.

The present work aimed to assemble a simple, portable and economical L-junction microfluidic device to realize the adjustment and tunability of homogeneous round-shaped particles synthesis. In this study, we synthesize two kind of microparticles, including magnetic alginate microparticles (MAM) and chitosan-coated magnetic alginate (CMAM) used for controlling the drug release under a mild condition. Comparing to the traditional method, the MAM synthesized via this microfluidic approach has uniform size distribution, adjustable diameter as well as tunable magnetism. By exploring the amoxicillin as model drug, the MAM displays excellent pH-sensitive release, the effect of particle size on the drug release rate was investigated as well. The results show the smaller particles (220 μm) show a faster release rate than the bigger materials (1000 μm) due to their larger specific area, providing more frequency to interact with the reaction solution. The positive polyelectrolyte, chitosan, coated on the magnetic alginate surface endows CMAM time extension in drug release by two times, successfully achieving drug controlled and sustained release via the kinetics analysis. In summary, this microfluidic approach provides a convenient and efficient fluidic design for the well-controlled synthesis of micro-and nanoscale particles, which is a potential choice used for controlled and sustained drug release.

Photothermal conversion material that generates thermal energy from sunlight is expected to be a promising technology for harvesting and conversion of clean solar energy. However, its photothermal conversion will be affected due to the surface contamination by dirt in outdoor applications, which greatly reduces the solar energy absorption. Herein, a superhydrophobic photothermal conversion fabric was fabricated through layer-by-lay self-assembly of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the surface of fibers, and followed by post-treatment with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The CNTs not only impart to the fabric high photothermal conversion capability, but also construct roughening structures on the fiber surface. Consequently, the as-prepared fabric could be rapidly heated to 89.8 °C under one sun (1 kW/m2) irradiation, and showed excellent superhydrophobicity with contact angle 165° ± 0.9° and rolling angle 0.6° ± 0.2°. Meanwhile, the fabric possessed excellent stability to organic solvent, acid/alkali solutions, and UV irradiation. Importantly, the superhydrophobic self-cleaning property prevents the photothermal coating from contamination to guarantee the durability of the photothermal conversion efficiency.

Energy-free cooling coatings present great potential to reduce global energy consumption, in which passive daytime radiative cooling (PDRC) without the use of additional electricity is promising. In spite of exciting progress, most of the PDRC materials are still limited by poor opto-thermal durability imposed by the unwanted surface contamination in real-world environments and complicated manufacturing processes, which hinder their practical applications. To overcome these challenges, here we develop a multi-bioinspired, hierarchically structured self-cleaning coating that imparts sustainable radiative cooling, even under harsh conditions. Our design mainly mimics the structures and functions of the Cyphochilus beetle, Saharan silver ant and lotus leaf, which synergistically results in a strong sunlight reflection, high thermal-infrared emission and robust anti-contamination. This heterogeneously integrated coating is also scalable and can be utilized on arbitrary surfaces, yielding a sub-ambient temperature drop of 13.8 °C under strong sunlight even under long-time outdoor exposure.

Functional textiles are ideal substrates for wearable electronics. Herein, superhydrophobic, flame-retardant and conductive cotton fabrics were fabricated by sequential assembly of poly(ethylenimine), ammonium polyphosphate and carbon nanotubes, followed by post-treatment with poly(dimethylsiloxane). The resulting fabrics possessed excellent superhydrophobic stability toward acid, alkali, organic solvent, UV irradiation, abrasion and long-time laundering. Meanwhile, when suffering to fire, the coated fabric could generate an efficient char layer and extinguish the fire to protect the cotton fiber from forming flame. Furthermore, this conductive cotton fabric exhibited stable sensing ability in contact with water droplets, showing wide potential application in wearable electronics as multifunctional smart textiles.

Stretchable superhydrophobic film was fabricated by casting silicone rubber polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) on a SiO2 nanoparticle-decorated template and subsequent stripping. PDMS endowed the resulting surface with excellent flexibility and stretchability. The use of nanoparticles contributed to the sustained roughening of the surface, even under large strain, offering mechanically durable superhydrophobicity. The resulting composite film could maintain its superhydrophobicity (water contact angle ≈ 161° and sliding angle close to 0°) under a large stretching strain of up to 100% and could withstand 500 stretching–releasing cycles without losing its superhydrophobic properties. Furthermore, the obtained film was resistant to long term exposure to different pH solutions and ultraviolet light irradiation, as well as to manual destruction, sandpaper abrasion, and weight pressing.

Lateral-flow analysis (LFA) is a convenient, low-cost, and rapid detection method, which has been widely used for screening of diseases. However, sensitivity enhancement in LFA is still a focus in this field and remains challenging. Herein, we propose an electrospinning coating method to modify the conventional nitrocellulose (NC) membrane and optimize the liquid flow rate for enhancing the sensitivity of the NC based LFA strips in the detection of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) and luteinizing hormone (LH). It can be seen that coating the NC membrane with nitrocellulose fibers could obtain a NC based strip with HCG and LH detection limits of 0.22 and 0.36 mIU mL−1 respectively, and a quantitative linear range of 0.5–500 mIU mL−1. The results show that electrospinning is effective in modifying conventional NC membranes for LFA applications.

Robustness of superhydrophobic materials has been gradually taken into consideration for practical applications; however, little attention has been paid to the impact resistance of the superhydrophobicity of the materials. The present study demonstrated a new route for improving the mechanical durability, especially the impact resistance, of the superhydrophobic materials. First, poly(styrene-co-butadiene)/poly(ethylene-vinyl acetate) (SBR/EVA) composite monoliths with microscale cellular structures were manufactured by vulcanization-foaming processes. Then the composite monoliths were treated with sandpaper to create nanostructures above the revealed micropores after removing the uppermost skin, forming micro/nanotextured surfaces and giving improvements in superhydrophobicity. Due to the elastomeric nature of SBR and EVA, the superhydrophobicity of the monoliths can be maintained even while the material is mechanically impacted or compressed, and wearing helps improvement or recovery of the superhydrophobicity because of the self-similarity of the cellular structure inside the monoliths. Additionally, the obtained superhydrophobic materials are resistant to acidic, alkali, and salt liquors as well as organic solvents and have easy healing capacity of superhydrophobicity with a simple sanding treatment when destroyed by exposure to oxygen plasma.

Superhydrophobic coatings were fabricated with edible candelilla wax and rice bran wax via one step spraying a wax-in-ethanol hot solution on polypropylene (PP) substrates for food containers. Beautiful “flower-like” surface microstructures were formed only by self-roughening of the coating without adding any nanomaterials or any lithography step, making the coatings display great superhydrophobicity for a variety of non-Newtonian viscous liquids with contact angles higher than 150° and sliding angles close to 0°. The as-coated PP can keep excellent superhydrophobic properties after impact from hot aqueous solution (about 70 °C) or 1200 repeated bends, exhibiting good heat resistance and superior flexibility. Importantly, the excellent durability could make it super-repel non-Newtonian fluids after various types of damage (including finger touching and multiple abrasion cycles with sandpaper). This approach can be applied to the inner surface of all kinds of food packaging to reduce liquid food residue.

Superhydrophobic fabrics were successfully prepared by modification of fibers with polymers containing polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS). The modification was conducted by chemical vapor deposition with mercapto silanes followed by click coupling with pentaerythritol tetrakis(3-mercaptopropionate) and octavinyl-POSS to form POSS-based polymers on the cotton fibers. The POSS-based polymers onto the fabric surfaces both increased the surface roughness and lowered the surface energy of the fabrics. The as-prepared superhydrophobic fabrics have excellent superhydrophobicity stability toward acid, base, salt, acetone, and N,N-dimethylformamide. In addition, the fabrics maintained superhydrophobicity under long time exposure to UV irradiation, and have better antifouling properties.

Artificial self-healing superhydrophobic surfaces have become a new research hotspot because of their recoverable non-wetting performance and practical perspective. In this paper, a superhydrophobic surface was fabricated by aerosol-assisted layer-by-layer chemical vapor deposition (AA-LbL-CVD) of epoxy resins and PDMS polymer films. The obtained samples still showed superhydrophobicity even after long-term exposure to different pH solutions and UV light irradiation as well as great mechanical stability against sandpaper abrasion and double-sided tape peeling. Importantly, due to the shape memory effect of the polymer films, the as-prepared samples could recover the previously crushed micro–nano structures upon heat treatment to make the surface superhydrophobic, showing thermo-triggered healing of superhydrophobicity.

The main goal of this work is to develop an economical, portable, disposable, and reliable point of care paper biosensor based on visualization, which can be used to detect viruses, bacteria, and proteins. However, the sensitivity of immunochromatography test (ICT) strips based on nitrocellulose to target detection has always been a problem. Here, we use an electrospun nitrocellulose (ENC) fiber membrane instead of traditional nitrocellulose fiber membrane to construct ICT strips for early pregnancy detection. By proper selection of the diameter of the ENC fiber to adjust the pore size, porosity, and morphology of the membrane, ICT strips with low flow rate and high protein loading were obtained. Based on these properties, a convenient and sensitive method for the colorimetric determination of human chorionic gonadotropin was developed. Under the optimal conditions, the detection limit of ICT based on ENC membrane is 10 mIU mL−1 (S/N = 3), the linear detection range is 5–1000 mIU mL−1, and the linear relationship is Y = 0.0434 X − 0.0136 (R2 = 0.9802). In addition, the test strip has good specificity and stability, and will not produce false-positive results.

Stretchable superhydrophobic film was fabricated by casting silicone rubber polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) on a SiO

Styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) foam materials are utilized with potential to combine marvelous compression set with mechanical properties, but its dimensional stability cannot meet actual production. In this paper, ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) with a certain crystallinity is introduced in the SBR foams matrix based on the alternately cross-linking process to build a skeleton support structure. SBR/EVA foams with lower shrinkages and excellent dimensional stabilities are obtained. SBR unit radicals can react with EVA copolymer unit radicals, which has been confirmed by the simulation calculation. Alternately cross-linking process and its influence on the dimensional stability of SBR/EVA foams have also been demonstrated by FTIR, NMR, TGA and DSC. The results demonstrate that the post shrinkage of SBR/EVA foams is reduced by 70% compared with that of the SBR foams and EVA plays the role of support skeleton.

Functionalization of synthetic suede materials with excellent superhydrophobicity can expand their application ranges. Superhydrophobic synthetic suede was obtained by coating with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS). Utilizing the synthetic suede effect of the fibrous rough structures in combination with the low surface energy micro–nano rough structure on fibers resulting from PDMS and OTS, the surface was easily turned superhydrophobic with self-cleaning properties. Abrasion tests showed that the superhydrophobic synthetic suede has excellent superhydrophobic performance after more than 2000 severe abrasion tests. This research provides a facile strategy for the preparation of practical superhydrophobic synthetic suede materials.

Passive daytime radiative cooling (PDRC) offers a sustainable way without additional energy input to cool objects by simultaneously reflecting sunlight and radiating heat through mid-infrared wavelengths. However, PDRC materials are easily contaminated by rain water, settled dust, microorganisms etc., which cause degradation in the cooling performance. Herein, we developed a porous composite film of ethylene-propylene-diene copolymer (EPDM) and hydrophobic SiO2 particles integrating superhydrophobic self-cleaning and radiative cooling. The film consists of EPDM micropores filled with numerous SiO2 agglomerations, resulting in solar reflectance of 96% with an average emissivity of 95% and superhydrophobicity with water contact angle of 162° and sliding angle of 1.2°. The film achieved a sub-ambient temperature drop of 12 °C in sealed air and 7 °C in open air under direct sunlight. Importantly, the superhydrophobic self-cleaning effect of the film prevents its surface from outdoor contamination or wetting, favoring long lasting cooling efficiency, which is promising in applications for cooling electronic devices, vehicles, building materials, etc.

Transparent coatings with self-cleaning properties are required for protection of outdoor optical devices. Highly transparent, fluorine-free superhydrophobic coatings of silica nanotubes (SNT) on glass substrates are fabricated by using poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) as the silica source and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as the sacrificial template, following by hydrophobization through chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of cured PDMS. The influence of surface topography from SNT on the transparency and superhydrophobicity of the coatings is investigated. High transparency and excellent superhydrophobicity of the surface can be achieved by changing the concentration of PDMS (CPDMS) for SNT coatings as well as the amount of the cured PDMS (APDMS) for hydrophobization. The optimum coating has an average transmittance higher than 83% in the visible-light range (400–780 nm), a water contact angle (CA) of 165° and a slide angle (SA) lower than 3°. When applied as protective cover, the glass substrate with superhydrophobic coating has little effect on the power generation efficiency of solar cells and has outstanding self-cleaning properties.

Superhydrophobic poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fabrics were firstly fabricated by one-pot in situ Stober reaction of tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and dodecyltrimethoxysilane (DTMS), in which the as-formed silica particles roughened the fiber surfaces and the hydrolyzed dodecyltrimethoxysilane hydrophobized the fabrics. Then the superhydrophobic fabrics were turned superamphiphobic after modification with perfluorodecyltrichlorosilane (PFDTS), with water and oil contact angles higher than 150°. The synergistic hydrophobization of DTMS, PFDTS and PDMS made the roughened fabrics easy to be superamphiphobic using very low concentration of PFDTS. Meanwhile, the as-obtained superamphiphobic fabric showed excellent chemical robustness even after exposure to different chemicals, such as acid, base, and salt. Importantly, the fabrics were durable to 100 cycles of laundries, 1000 cycles of mechanical abrasion as well as long time exposure to UV irradiation without apparently changing the amphiphobicity. Also, the surface of the superamphiphobic fabrics showed excellent blood stain resistance properties.

A major challenge remains in preparing superhydrophobic textiles that withstand the impact of high hydrostatic pressure. In this report, textiles were coated with PDMS/SiO 2 mixture to obtain water pressure resistant property. Then the coated textiles were further hydrophobized with tetraethoxysilane and cetyltrimethoxysilane by an in situ Stober reaction. The as-obtained textiles exhibited a static water contact angle of 162.5° with a sliding angle

Multifunctional fabrics with excellent water repellency are very useful for practical applications. In this study, poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fabrics were functionalized by introducing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) onto the PET fibers via a facile layer-by-layer electrostatic assembly using poly(dimethyl diallyl ammonium chloride) as a polyelectrolyte, followed by post-treatment with poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS). The obtained fabric surfaces possessed superhydrophobicity, UV blocking properties and electrical conductivity. The hydrophobicity and electrical conductivities of the PET fabrics were systematically tunable by controlling the number of assembly layers. Wettability tests showed that the superhydrophobicity of the modified fabrics was robust to acid/alkaline etching, UV irradiation, long-time laundering and mechanical abrasion. Moreover, electrical conductivity showed no significant change even after repeating water laundering 20 times.

Flexible sensing materials have become scientific hotspot in smart sensors. For outdoor uses, wearable electronic sensors must meet the challenges from water, sweat, or other liquids. Herein, a simple strategy was described to fabricate nanocomposite film of thermoplastic elastomer and carbon nanotubes (TPE/CNTs) at air/water interface for wearable electronics with liquid repelling property. Firstly, mixture suspension of TPE and CNTs was pumped into water and kept still to form a TPE/CNTs sheet at the water surface. Then the sheet was stabilized by spraying with N-hexane and transferred out of the air/water interface to obtain a free-standing TPE/CNTs film. The resultant film is conductive with a resistance of 15KΩ and superhydrophobic with a CA of 160°. When applied as a sensor, it shows excellent performance with superior sensitivity (The gauge factor is about 1), fast response time (100–150 ms), stable response over 1000 stretching-relaxing cycles, and wide sensing ranges (stretching: over 76%). Importantly, it can be used in wet conditions, making it capable to be wearable electronic devices for fast response, long-term and reliable human behavior monitoring.

Flexible and wearable sensors are of extreme importance for various practical applications in complex environments, such as electronic skin, body motion detection, etc. However, preparation of cost-effective and superhydrophobic wearable sensors with excellent flexibility, anti-corrosion, outstanding sensitivity and environmental adaptability remains challenging. Herein, a superhydrophobic flexible film is fabricated by spray-coating thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) solution on the upside of a multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNTs) sheet formed at the air/water interface, followed by treating the downside of MWCNTs sheet with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) pumped into the water. In the process, the covering of TPE on the MWCNTs made the sheet shrunk and increased the density of the conductive network. PDMS coating enhanced superhydrophobicity of the film, and binding fastness of the MWCNTs. The obtained sandwich-like TPE/MWCNTs/PDMS film had superior conductive sensitivity, large strain range (80%), fast and stable response time (60–80 ms) with great stability over 1000 stretching-relaxing cycles. Benefiting from the favorable superhydrophobic property, the fabricated film was capable of being put into liquid environment for quantifying the resistance under humid environments including moisture, acid, basic and salt conditions. It can be effectively used to measure wrist pulse and monitor various movements associated with different human body joints, such as finger, wrist, elbow. Moreover, the sensing film was able to capture the continuous signals in diverse atmosphere such as the area change of film, and the real-time stress response of drop impact. This study affords an innovative and promising track for multifunctional wearable sensors with wide applications in a harsh environment.

Surfaces with sustainable superhydrophobicity have drawn much attention in recent years for improved durability in practical applications. In this study, hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles (HMSNs) were prepared and used as reservoirs to load dodecyltrimethoxysilane (DDTMS). Then superhydrophobic surfaces were fabricated by spray coating HMSNs with DDTMS as particle stacking structure and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as hydrophobic interconnection. The mechanical durability of the obtained superhydrophobic surface was evaluated by a cyclic sand abrasion. It was found that once the surface was mechanically damaged, new roughening structures made of the cavity of the HMSNs would expose and maintain suitable hierarchical roughness surrounded by PDMS and DDTMS, favoring sustainable superhydrphobicity of the coating. The surfaces could sustain superhydrophobicity even after 1000 cycles of sand abrasion. This facile strategy may pave the way to the development of robust superhydrophobic surfaces in practical applications.

A flame-retardant and superhydrophobic coating was applied to cotton textiles by a conventional pad-dry-cure method, which involved the deposition of branched poly(ethylenimine), polyacrylate soap-free latex and ammonium polyphosphate. The as-coated fabrics showed superhydrophobicity with a self-cleaning effect, and the fibers could generate a char layer in the flame-burning test, giving the fabrics a self-extinguishing property. Importantly, the resulting fabrics remained superhydrophobic after 75 commercial laundering cycles. The advantages of this method are being simple, affordable and easy to use in the factory production of large quantities of multifunctional textiles.

The functionalization of fabrics is important in both academic research and industrial areas. In this work, poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fabrics were dipped into a solution of PVDF and PDMS in DMF/THF to coat fibers with PVDF/PDMS. Then, the as-coated fabrics with wet PVDF/PDMS were squeezed to remove the residual liquid with a scraping bar and put into a non-solvent water to induce roughening of the PVDF/PDMS coatings on the fibers, through a phase inversion process to obtain robust superhydrophobic PET fabrics. The obtained fabrics show a water contact angle of 164.4° ± 2.1° and a slide angle less than 4°. The superhydrophobicity of the fabrics was chemically stable in both acidic and alkaline solution, and could endure prolonged UV irradiation. In addition, after 5000 abrasion cycles or 150 times laundering, the coating still maintained superhydrophobicity and had a relatively low sliding angle. Also, the superhydrophobic fabrics displayed excellent self-cleaning properties. This simple process without using expensive equipment can be applied into the practical production of PET fabrics.

Aromatic silica nanocapsules were fabricated by loading fragrance into hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles, and coated onto fibers. The obtained fabrics with aromatic nanocapsules were then hydrophobized by a water-repellent finishing agent to fabricate superhydrophobic aromatic fabrics. Scanning electron microscopy was conducted to investigate the morphologies of the nanocapsules and the fabric surfaces. Contact angle measurements of water droplets were conducted to show the wettability of the fabrics. The releasing properties of the silica nanocapsules and the superhydrophobic aromatic fabrics were thoroughly investigated. It was shown that the aromatic silica nanocapsules coated on fibers not only roughened the fabrics, favouring the superhydrophobicity of the substrates, but also imparted the fabrics with long-lasting fragrance due to their sustained-release effect. Importantly, the superhydrophobic property enhanced the sustained releasing performance of fragrance of the aromatic fabrics.

Mechanically durable superhydrophobic surfaces on cotton fabrics were fabricated by binding polystyrene nanoparticles onto fibers with aluminum phosphate (AP) followed by coating with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as low surface energy substance. Decoration of nanoparticles roughened the fabric surface and coating with AP made stable the roughening structures. The as-prepared fabric surfaces not only showed excellent stability to acid, alkali, salt, organic solvent and UV irradiation, but also could maintain their superhydrophobicity after abrasion of 2000 or laundering of 35 cycles. The combination of inorganic adhesives AP and organic PDMS greatly enhanced the mechanical stability of the superhydrophobicty of the cotton substrate. Meanwhile, the obtained superhydrophobic fabrics showed excellent self-cleaning property.

Removal of chromium ions is significant due to their toxicity and harmfulness, however it is very difficult to remove trace Cr(III) complexed with organics because of their strong stability. Herein, a novel electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers (NF) adsorbent was fabricated and modified by tannic acid (TA) by a facile blend electrospinning approach for removal of trace Cr(III) in an organic complex. Utilizing the large specific area of nanofibers in the membrane and the good affinity of tannic acid on the nanofibers for hydrolyzed collagen by hydrophobic and hydrogen bonds, the as-prepared PAN&ndash, TA NFM exhibited good adsorption toward Cr(III)-collagen complexes and effective reduction of total organic carbon in tannage wastewater. The maximal adsorption capacity of Cr(III) is 79.48 mg g&minus, 1 which was obtained at the pH of 7.0 and initial Cr(III) concentration of 50 mg g&minus, 1. Importantly, the batch adsorption could decrease the Cr(III) concentration from 10&ndash, 20 mg L&minus, 1 to under 1.5 mg L&minus, 1, which showed great application potential for the disposal of trace metal ions in organic complexes from wastewater.

Superhydrophobic surfaces were fabricated via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization of fluorinated methacrylates on poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fabrics. The hydrophobicity of the PET fabric was systematically tunable by controlling the polymerization time. The obtained superhydrophobic fabrics showed excellent chemical robustness even after exposure to different chemicals, such as acid, base, salt, acetone, and toluene. Importantly, the fabrics maintained superhydrophobicity after 2500 abrasion cycles, 100 laundering cycles, and long time exposure to UV irradiation. Also, the surface of the superhydrophobic fabrics showed excellent antifouling properties.

Hydrophobic polydimethylsiloxane based coatings were self-roughened on textiles via a nonsolvent-induced phase-separation method. The self-roughened coatings have superior durability in superhydrophobicity. The obtained superhydrophobic and superoleophilic materials were demonstrated as excellent filters for continuous oil–water separation. The work showed large-scale and practical application for consecutive collection of oil from water.

Superhydrophobic fabrics were fabricated by creation of roughening structures through alkali etching of fibers, modification with mercapto silanes and hydrophobization via thiol–ene click chemistry. Alkali etching resulted in nanoscale pits on the fiber surfaces roughening the fabrics with hierarchical structures, and improved the affinity of fibers for mercapto silanes. The click reaction between dodecafluoroheptyl methacrylate and sulfhydryl fibers lowered the surface energy, making the fabrics superhydrophobic with superoleophilicity. The as-obtained superhydrophobic fabrics showed excellent chemical robustness even after exposure to different chemicals, such as acid, base, salt, acetone, and toluene. Importantly, the fabrics maintained superhydrophobicity after 4500 abrasion cycles, 200 laundering cycles, as well as long time exposure to UV irradiation. The fabrics could be applied in oil/water separation due to their superhydrophobic and superoleophilic properties.

Sulfur (S) cross-linking styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) foams show high shrinkage due to the cure reversion, leading to reduced yield and increased processing cost. In this paper, double cross-linking system by S and dicumyl peroxide (DCP) was used to decrease the shrinkage of SBR foams. Most importantly, the synergy of double cross-linking agents was reported for the first time to our knowledge. The cell size and its distribution of SBR foams were investigated by FESEM images, which show the effect of DCP content on the cell structure of the SBR foams. The relationships between shrinkage and crystalline of SBR foams were analyzed by the synergy of double cross-linking agents, which were demonstrated by FTIR, Raman spectra, XRD, DSC and TGA. When the DCP content was 0.6 phr, the SBR foams exhibit excellent physical and mechanical properties such as low density (0.223 g/cm