CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
·
2025
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IF 13.2
Kaiwen Chen,Xianfu Xiao,Cheng Hao,Fengze Sun,Haonan Zhang,Yujing Tan,Jianyi Zhu,Hui Peng,Tianyi Zhan,Jianxiong Lyu,Ning Yan
The asymmetric wettability of Janus membranes shows promising prospects in the field of liquid transport and separation, and researchers are seeking environmentally friendly and cost-effective feedstock for fabricating these membranes. In this study, we developed two types of high-performance, flexible, and durable asymmetric Janus membranes from wood: Janus cross-section wood membrane (JCW) and Janus longitudinal-section wood membrane (JLW). Wood, being an anisotropic material stemming from its grain orientation, possesses a hierarchical porous structure that can be tailored for various practical applications. The JCW, characterized by its vertical wood channel structure and larger pore size, demonstrated superior unidirectional water transport and fog collection capabilities. Its water–oil separation efficiency reached 99.9%, with a filtration flux exceeded 3000 L/m 2 ∙h. The JLW, featuring three-dimensional interconnected micro-nano channels and layered pathways, was particularly effective in separating oil–water emulsions. The separation efficiency of oil–water emulsions reached 99.91%, with filtration fluxes for water-in-oil and oil-in-water emulsions being as high as 500 and 700 L/m 2 ∙h, respectively. These results underscored the potential of asymmetric wettability Janus membranes in the fields of liquid transport and separation, while also paving the way for the utilization of sustainable and eco-friendly feedstocks.
研究领域:
材料科学
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环境科学
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化学工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
JOURNAL OF COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE
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2025
·
IF 9.7
Wanshun Deng,Rui Guo,Gang Wang,Zhixiang Zeng,Tianhui Ren,Shuaijun Pan
Hypothesis With varied affinities for distinct liquids, liquid/solid interfaces can exhibit different stability against external liquids. For liquid-infused Janus membranes with different surface chemistry, there may be significant osmotic pressure gradients across the membrane, facilitating liquid gating of various liquids in diverse systems. Such strategy may highly widen the application areas of liquid gating technology. Experiments Liquid-infused Janus membranes were prepared via the combination of hydroxyapatite (amphiphilic but more water-loving) on one side and 3-(dodecylamino) propane-1-sulfonic acid (amphiphilic but more oil-loving) on the other side and subsequent infusion of various liquids (water or oils). The gating property of them was studied for all the conditions and the application potential in various areas including medical and micro-reaction was also explored. Findings After being infused with certain liquids (i.e., water or oils), the obtained membranes displaying opposite affinity toward water and oils can universally gate immiscible liquids at a high rectification ratio in air and in liquids. The interfacial instability of liquid films on the reverse sides was found to be critical in the achievement of liquid gating. Moreover, such gating property is also applicable in the transportation of various soluble substances (ions and drugs) and facilitating the dislodgement of blood.
研究领域:
材料科学
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生物医学工程
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化学工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
APPLIED SURFACE SCIENCE
·
2024
·
IF 6.3
Ziyue Gao,Minghao Li,Haoxu Yu,Shuai Huang,Faze Chen
Spontaneous liquid transport is increasingly being applied in various fields such as microfluidics, fuel cells, phase change heat transfer, water harvesting, etc. However, long-distance spontaneous liquid transport with path-customizable motion trajectories is still challenging. Drawing multi-inspirations from the wedge-shaped structures of iris petals, the continuous structures of bamboo joints, and the microgroove structures of Nepenthes mouth edge, we fabricate a modular, pump-free biomimetic liquid transport platform by 3D printing and surface modification. The platform is composed of sequential wedge notches, and a crescent-shaped groove is designed at the joint of every two connected wedge structures. The platform is characterized by path-customizable liquid transport trajectories and can be used to achieve long-distance liquid transport without the need of external energy fields, and the multi-level nested structures along the depth significantly facilitates the liquid transport. Experimental study and theoretical force analysis show that the crescent-shaped grooves enable the liquid to overcome joint barriers by converting potential energy accumulated at joints into kinetic energy, achieving a maximum velocity of 18 mm/s. Taking advantage of the flexibility of 3D printing and long-distance transport capability, the modular structure of the platform enables customization of the transport distance and trajectory. By assembling 14 bamboo-like wedge-shaped units in series, we realized a transport distance up to 350 mm, which could be further increased by connecting more units. Furthermore, we develop various modular and multifunctional liquid transport platforms for anti-gravity transport, liquid diversion, and customized transport trajectories, which demonstrate that our design strategy could be an available solution for path-customizable liquids transport in fields like bio-sensing, fuel cells, etc.
研究领域:
微流控技术
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材料科学
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生物医学工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
Polymers
·
2025
·Vol. 17
·期 3
·302
·
IF 4.9
Hua Xu,Chao Chen,Shunfeng Hu,Yiqi Chen,Dengle Duan,Guowei Liang,Ximing Zhong
Highly transparent anti-smudge coatings are attractive for diverse fields due to their inherent repellency against various contaminants and the ability to keep surfaces clean. In this work, a novel fluorine-free anti-smudge coating system was developed by using poly(dimethysiloxane), tris(hydroxymethyl) aminomethane, and isophorone diisocynate to synthesize a hexa-functional coating precursor and utilizing hexamethylene diisocyanate trimer as a curing agent. The resultant anti-smudge coatings are highly transparent and can be applied to various substrates. These coatings exhibit repellency against water, hexadecane, ink, pump oil, and crude oil and show self-cleaning performance in air and oily environments. Moreover, they display anti-ink ability and can be employed to reduce bacterial contamination. Of note, they can endow substrates with protection against corrosion from strong acids, strong bases, salt solutions, and even aqua regia. The developed coatings also show potential for controllable liquid transport. Moreover, these versatile coatings are mechanically robust, demonstrating tolerance against abrasion, impact, and bending and also exhibiting excellent adhesion to various substrates, indicative of their availability for widespread applications.
研究领域:
材料科学
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表面工程
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化学工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
INDUSTRIAL CROPS AND PRODUCTS
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2022
·
IF 6.449
Jianhua Ma,Jia-Horng Lin,Yulei Feng,Xiaohua Huang,Shan Chi,Yanming Liu,Ching-Wen Lou,Ting Dong
Antibacterial textiles that repel external liquids while synchronously transport internal sweat to keep comfort moisture balance are desirable. However, very limited success has been achieved to construct such textiles. Herein, a facile approach to create durable antibacterial cotton fabric with skin-like wet management was proposed. The first step involved several minutes (< 5) dip-coating subsequently with PA and Cu 2+ , which afforded Cu enriched surfaces endowing highly efficient (99.95% in 2 h for E. coli , 99.99% in 2 h for S. aureus ) and durable antibacterial activity (> 99.95% after 50 times washing treatment). The following step further paved a way of skin-like wet management by the construction of dotted wetting gradient on superhydrophobic background via transient exposure to a vapor mixture of methylchlorosilanes and successive patterned plasma etching. The liquid could only be transferred in the direction of the wetting gradient and was stopped when the fabric was faced against it, featuring synchronous antifouling and unidirectional water transmission so as to avoid wet clicking of the fabric with high air permeability even in a wet environment. This study opens a way for developing advanced fabrics which voluntarily release human sweat and meanwhile restrain microbial development obviating bacterial infection.
研究领域:
材料科学
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生物学
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纺织工程
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
COMPOSITES PART A-APPLIED SCIENCE AND MANUFACTURING
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2025
·
IF 8.9
Yanlong Zhan,Zhenqian Pang,Gang Tan
Intelligent responsive surfaces hold immense potential for cutting-edge technological applications. In this study, we report the fabrication of optically and thermally dual-responsive shape memory superhydrophobic surfaces, achieved through the synergistic integration of 3D printing, magnetron sputtering, and chemical modification techniques. These multifunctional surfaces exhibit exceptional shape memory properties, activated by optical and thermal stimuli, enabling reversible transitions in both surface structure and wettability. Furthermore, they demonstrate superior photothermal conversion efficiency and serve as programmable, rewritable platforms for precise control over liquid directional transport and tunable wetting gradients, ranging from superhydrophobicity to superhydrophilicity. Notably, the surfaces dynamically adjust their structural color via orientation changes in the array, all while maintaining outstanding shape memory stability and durability. The versatile applications of these intelligent surfaces encompass directional fluid transport, wetting gradient manipulation, wettability switching, programmable interfaces, structural coloration, and even extend to aerospace technologies, such as foldable antennas. This work represents a significant advancement in the development of smart responsive surfaces, highlighting their broad applicability and transformative potential across diverse technological domains.
研究领域:
材料科学
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表面工程
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智能材料
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
SEPARATION AND PURIFICATION TECHNOLOGY
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2024
·
IF 8.1
Zhecun Wang,Jinghan Zhang,Yubing Shao,Zhanyuan Cui,Yali Zhao,Yan Zhang
The Janus membranes with asymmetric wettability can gate oil or water transport spontaneously and directionally to facilitate the liquids transport for oil/water emulsions separation without extra energy consumption, which have attracted wide attention. However, this single-functioned either oil or water removal Janus membranes can only separate one type of emulsions and cannot meet the requirements in complex environments. Herein, a bi-functional Janus mesh membrane with selective directional oil- and water-transport integration induced by direction-directed dual asymmetric wettability is demonstrated for energetic-efficient on-demand separation of oil-in-water and water-in-oil emulsion. An ingenious double single-side asymmetric modification strategy is proposed to make a homogenous mesh membrane with special Janus interface, where one surface features oleophobicity and hydrophilicity while the other shows superhydrophobicity and oleophilicity. This direction-directed wettability imbalance gives rise to the selective directional both water and oil transport property, namely , one surface directionally transports oil and block water. In contrast, the other surface suspends the oil and directionally transports water across the membrane. According to this property, this multifunctional Janus mesh membrane achieves high-performance on-demand oil-in-water and water-in-oil emulsions separation without extra energy consumption.
研究领域:
材料科学
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环境科学
·
化学工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
Matter
·
2022
·
IF 19.967
Xin Chen,Cong Wu,Yinjie Lv,Chang Zhang,Xinshui Zhang,Lu Nie,Yue Zhang,Lianqi Zhao,Chen Huang,Wei Liu
Lithium extraction from seawater/brine has attracted increasing attention because of its abundant reserves. However, most extraction technologies require extra energy consumption to enrich lithium in the solution. Here, we develop a self-driven lithium extraction method by a composite asymmetric nonwoven (CAN) with directional liquid transport functionality. CAN consists of one hydrophobic fibrous layer containing Li-ion sieve particles and one hydrophilic fibrous layer. As a result, a solution containing various types of ions can spontaneously transport through CAN from the hydrophobic to the hydrophilic layer, absorbing Li ions in the hydrophobic layer. CAN exhibits high Li + selective adsorption capacity, good chemical stability, easy recyclability, and long service life. Importantly, extremely low energy of ∼1.631 J is consumed on extracting 1 mg lithium ion by our method using CAN. This work opens a great promise of saving huge energy costs on lithium extraction from seawater or salt lakes.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
环境工程
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE
·
2020
·
IF 7.183
Xingzhen Zhang,Yuzhang Zhu,Wangxi Fang,Liangliang Gui,Jingya Zhang,Aqiang Wang,Jian Jin
Accurately monitoring blood glucose in real-time is highly required for diabetes. Utilizing membrane to realize fast separation of a trace of blood is significant for accurately testing blood glucose. In this work, we designed a Janus membrane with thin film composite structure by electrospinning polyurethane (PU) on Ca 3 (PO 4 ) 2 -coated nylon mesh. This Janus membrane exhibited directional liquid transport performance and liquid wastage reduction during separation through optimizing the surface wettability , pore parameters and asymmetric structures of membrane. When a trace of water with volume as small as 3 μL was dipped on the hydrophobic side with pore size of around 1.1 μm, this water droplet could easily penetrate through the Janus membrane within 2.9 s under only gravity and liquid wastage reduction was achieved at the same time (D 2 /D 1 = 1.27), suggesting an excellent liquid transportation performance. The blood glucose meter integrated with this Janus membrane could efficiently remove red blood cells from 10 μL blood within 7.2 s. As a result, the sensitivity of the blood glucose meter increased by 4.5%.
研究领域:
生物医学工程
·
材料科学
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
·
2021
·
IF 13.273
Hui Liu,Li Zhang,Jianying Huang,Xiaoli Zhang,Jiajun Mao,Zhong Chen,Qinghui Mao,Mingzheng Ge,Yuekun Lai
Superwetting materials with multiple functions have drawn heightened attention due to their delicately adjustable surface wettability . However, realizing the full potential of diversified functions is often hampered by the usually symmetrical wetting state. Herein, we introduce a versatile electro-spraying technique to construct a patterned PDMS/PMMA coating with asymmetrical wettability. The tunable superwetting patterns are able to achieve the required functional diversity. The as-prepared superhydrophobic fabric can act as a separation filter with a high separation efficiency and satisfactory cycling ability. With the wettability difference, such patterned surfaces can also manipulate the successive drops motions, and relation between the surface patterns and the controllable movement is demonstrated. In addition, the patterned surface can serve as a smart signal-expression membrane, thereby enabling real-time variable liquid signal expression with alterable signals. The exciting results have paved the way for expanding the application foreground of smart superwetting materials in microfluidics and signal-detection.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
微流控技术
·
表面工程
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
·
2020
·
IF 8.758
Chao Fu,Lin Gu,Zhixiang Zeng,Qunji Xue
Inspired by nature, Janus membranes with unidirectional liquid transport (ULT) were developed to be used in the fields of fog collection, moisture-wicking fabrics, demulsification, etc. However, the obtained Janus membranes are often unifunctional, and it is still a great challenge to adjust the ULT of Janus membranes for multifunctional applications. Herein, a scalable, low-cost, and machine-washable Janus membrane was developed by combining the cyclic self-assembly of phytic acid and FeIII and a one-side spraying coating of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS), featuring adjustable ULT upon challenge for multifunctional applications. By controlling the amount of PDMS, the Janus membranes exhibit two different performances, ULT and switchable permeation. The prepared Janus membranes achieved an excellent moisture-wicking fabric (1.6× the water evaporation rate of cotton), fast water collection under oil, rapid demulsification, and the efficient separation of an oil/water mixture. The separation efficiency of a light or heavy oil from water was higher than 99.9% even after 10 separation cycles, and the flux of the separation was up to 2.55 × 104 or 2.38 × 104 L m–2 h–1, respectively. This study could provide an idea for the development of more Janus membranes with adjustable performances to realize multifunctional applications.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
仿生学
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
FIBERS AND POLYMERS
·
2024
·
IF 2.2
Wu Zhenting,Liu Ruifang,Yin Chaoyi,Ba Long
Wearable sweat sensors can noninvasively, in real time, and continuously monitor various physiological markers in sweat at the molecular level, which has a wide range of application prospects in the fields of health management, healthcare, and clinical diagnosis. However, effective sweat sampling remains a great challenge. Here, we prepared Janus fabric sweat glucose sensors, which were made by electrospinning hydrophobic polyurethane (PU) on a super hydrophilic gauze that can unidirectionally transport sweat from the skin (hydrophobic side) to the electrode (hydrophilic side). The screen-printed electrode modified by glucose oxidase has a good linear response to glucose. On-body experiments show that the sensor can detect glucose levels in sweat in real-time. The Janus fabric glucose sensor with its in situ monitoring capability and unidirectional liquid transport, and requires very low production costs, is expected to facilitate the development of smart textile sensors, opening new possibilities for exploring precise and controllable platforms for body fluid collection and sensing.
研究领域:
生物医学工程
·
可穿戴设备
·
健康监测
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
危险品化学品经营许可证（带存储）