Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China.
HKU-Zhejiang Institute of Research and Innovation (HKU-ZIRI), Hangzhou, Zhejiang 311300, China.
Nat Commun. 2017 Jun 12;8:15823. doi: 10.1038/ncomms15823.
Durability is a long-standing challenge in designing liquid-repellent surfaces. A high-performance omniphobic surface must robustly repel liquids, while maintaining mechanical/chemical stability. However, liquid repellency and mechanical durability are generally mutually exclusive properties for many omniphobic surfaces-improving one performance inevitably results in decreased performance in another. Here we report well-defined porous membranes for durable omniphobic surfaces inspired by the springtail cuticle. The omniphobicity is shown via an amphiphilic material micro-textured with re-entrant surface morphology; the mechanical durability arises from the interconnected microstructures. The innovative fabrication method-termed microfluidic emulsion templating-is facile, cost-effective, scalable and can precisely engineer the structural topographies. The robust omniphobic surface is expected to open up new avenues for diverse applications due to its mechanical and chemical robustness, transparency, reversible Cassie-Wenzel transition, transferability, flexibility and stretchability.
耐久性是设计拒液表面的一个长期存在的挑战。高性能的全疏水面必须能够稳定地排斥液体，同时保持机械/化学稳定性。然而，对于许多全疏水面来说，液体排斥性和机械耐久性通常是相互排斥的特性——改善一种性能不可避免地会导致另一种性能下降。在这里，我们报告了受弹尾虫外骨骼启发的耐用全疏水面的明确定义多孔膜。通过具有内凹表面形态的两亲性材料微结构化来显示出疏液性；机械耐久性来自于相互连接的微观结构。创新的制造方法——微流乳液模板化——简单、经济高效、可扩展，并且可以精确地设计结构形貌。由于其机械和化学稳定性、透明性、可逆的Cassie-Wenzel 转变、可转移性、灵活性和可拉伸性，这种坚固的全疏水面有望为各种应用开辟新途径。
