pH-induced reversible wetting transition between the underwater superoleophilicity and superoleophobicity

Surfaces with controlled oil wettability in water have great potential for numerous underwater applications. In this work, we report a smart surface with pH-responsive oil wettability. The surface shows superoleophilicity in acidic water and superoleophobicity in basic water. Reversible transition between the two states can be achieved through alteration of the water pH. Such smart ability of the surface is due to the cooperation between the surface chemistry variation and hierarchical structures on the surface. Furthermore, we also extended this strategy to the copper mesh substrate and realized the selective oil/water separation on the as-prepared film. This paper reports a new surface with excellently controllable underwater oil wettability, and we believe such a surface has a lot of applications, for instance, microfluidic devices, bioadhesion, and antifouling materials.