Australian Future Fibres Research and Innovation Centre, Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3216, Australia.
Sci Rep. 2013 Oct 16;3:2964. doi: 10.1038/srep02964.
Herein we demonstrate that switchable, spontaneous, directional-transport ability to both water and oil fluids can be created on fabric materials through wet-chemistry coating and successive UV irradiation treatment. When the fabric showed directional transport to a liquid, it prevented liquids of higher surface tension from penetration, but allowed liquids of lower surface tension to permeate, from either side. The directional transport ability can be switched from one fluid to another simply by heating the fabric at an elevated temperature and then re-irradiating the fabric with UV light for required period of time. By attaching liquid drops vertically upwards to a horizontally-laid fabric, we further demonstrated that this novel directional fluid transport was an automatic process driven by surface property alone, irrespective of gravity's effect. This novel fabric may be useful for development of "smart" textiles and functional membranes for various applications.
在这里，我们通过湿法化学涂层和连续的紫外光照射处理，在织物材料上展示了对水和油两种流体的可切换、自发、定向传输能力。当织物表现出对液体的定向传输时，它可以防止表面张力较高的液体渗透，但允许表面张力较低的液体从任一侧渗透。通过将织物在高温下加热，然后再用紫外光照射所需的时间，定向传输能力可以从一种流体切换到另一种流体。通过将液滴垂直向上附着到水平放置的织物上，我们进一步证明了这种新颖的定向流体传输是一种由表面性质单独驱动的自动过程，而不受重力的影响。这种新型织物可能对开发各种应用的“智能”纺织品和功能膜有用。
