Remarkable durability of our surfaces has also been demonstrated
chemically, thermally and mechanically in various ways
shown in Figure 4. Oil droplets exhibit almost unchanged high
contact angles on domains prewetted by polar solvents (see Figure
4A), revealing a robust and reversible responsiveness for
polar and nonpolar liquids. Our membranes show long-term
durability within an environmentally relevant temperature range
of 0–100C (see Figure 4B). After 20,000 cycles of abrasion
test, the fabric was found to be still maintaining the superoleophobicity
and superwettability for polar liquids (see Figure 4C).
Oil contact angles remain unchanged at low PH, while high
basicity (PH>12) may damage the SiAOAC bonding thus
resulting in the slightly decrease of oil repellency (see Figure
4D). Detailed discussion is in Supporting Information Section 7.
In summary, we have demonstrated a simple technique for fabricating
smart SOP membranes for effective oil-replacing applications.
The low surface energy combining with surface
reconfiguration renders both excellent oil resistance even for ultralow
surface tension nonpolar oils and extreme wettability for virtually
all polar liquids. These smart fabrics exhibit prominent chemical,
thermal, and mechanical durability. Consequently, our surfaces
can serve as effective oil replacement media and are promising for
applications in self-cleaning, antifouling, breathable oil-shielding
clothing, cleanup of oil spills, wastewater treatment, separation of
commercially relevant emulsions, and fuel purification.