A multifunctional fabric with identifiable and controllable surface wettability.

[Display omitted] • Intelligent ammonia-responsive fabric with synchronously changing color wettability. • High correlation between wettability and color with ammonia as the switch. • Wettability judgment with remarkable repeatability based on color. • Separation of various oil–water mixtures by in-situ switching of wettability. With ammonia as the switching link and myristic acid-modified titanium as the raw material, a fabric with synchronous switching of color and wettability was prepared. The unique lactone structure of crystal violet lactone is sensitive to hydrogen bonding in the system. Therefore, after ammonia enters the system, the lactone ring structure is restored, which shows that the color changes from colorfulness to colorless. With the good combination, the fabric can change from superhydrophobicity to superhydrophilicity within 10 s after encountering ammonia, which shows that the color changes from blue to white. In addition, color has a relatively high correspondence with wettability and repeatability. Therefore, the reversible wettability and synchronous blue-to-white color change can provide new ideas for the preparation of materials with controllable wettability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]