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Fabrication of Long-Term Underwater Superoleophobic Al Surfaces and Application on Underwater Lossless Manipulation of Non-Polar Organic Liquids

Song, J; Huang, L; Lu, Y; Liu, X; Deng, X; Yang, X; Huang, S; ... Parkin, IP; + view all (2016) Fabrication of Long-Term Underwater Superoleophobic Al Surfaces and Application on Underwater Lossless Manipulation of Non-Polar Organic Liquids. Scientific Reports , 6 , Article 31818. 10.1038/srep31818. Green open access

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Abstract

Underwater superoleophobic surfaces have different applications in fields from oil/water separation to underwater lossless manipulation. This kind of surfaces can be easily transformed from superhydrophilic surfaces in air, which means the stability of superhydrophilicity in air determines the stability of underwater superoleophobicity. However, superhydrophilic surfaces fabricated by some existing methods easily become hydrophobic or superhydrophobic in air with time. Here, a facile method combined with electrochemical etching and boiling water immersion is developed to fabricate long-term underwater superoleophobic surfaces. The surface morphologies and chemical compositions are investigated. The results show that the electrochemically etched and boiling-water immersed Al surfaces have excellent long-term superhydrophilicity in air for over 1 year and boehmite plays an important role in maintaining long-term stability of wettability. Based on the fabricated underwater superoleophobic surfaces, a special method and device were developed to realize the underwater lossless manipulation of immiscible organic liquid droplets with a large volume. The capture and release of liquid droplets were realized by controlling the resultant force of the applied driving pressure, gravity and buoyancy. The research has potential application in research-fields such as the transfer of valuable reagents, accurate control of miniature chemical reactions, droplet-based reactors, and eliminates contamination of manipulator components.

Type: Article
Title: Fabrication of Long-Term Underwater Superoleophobic Al Surfaces and Application on Underwater Lossless Manipulation of Non-Polar Organic Liquids
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1038/srep31818
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep31818
Language: English
Additional information: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Keywords: Bioinspired materials; Fluidics; Mechanical engineering
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1528759
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