Different bio-inspired liquid wettability are derived through modulation of chemistry and topography—but the chemical modulation process emerged as a superior approach for embedding desired wettability and other relevant physical properties.

Fish scale-inspired underwater superoleophobic coatings with low oil adhesion can be achieved through the creation of hierarchical surface topography on water-compatible materials (including polymeric hydrogels, metal oxides, and electrostatic multilayers)....

Biomimetic artificial surfaces that enable the manipulation of gas bubble mobility have been explored in a wide range of applications in nanomaterial synthesis, surface defouling, biomedical diagnostics, and therapeutics. Although many superhydrophobic surfaces and isotropic lubricant-infused porous surfaces have been developed to manipulate gas bubbles, the simultaneous control over the adhesion and transport of gas bubbles underwater remains a challenge. Thermotropic liquid crystals (LCs), a class of structured fluids, provide an opportunity to tune the behavior of gas bubbles through LC mesophase transitions using a variety of external stimuli. Using this central idea, we report the design and synthesis of liquid crystal-infused porous surfaces (LCIPS) and elucidate the effects of the LC mesophase on the transport and adhesion of gas bubbles on LCIPS immersed in water. We demonstrate that LCIPS are a promising class of surfaces with an unprecedented level of responsiveness and functionality, which enable the design of cyanobacteria-inspired object movement, smart catalysts, and bubble gating devices to sense and sort volatile organic compounds and control oxygen levels in biomimetic cell cultures.

While the development of mechanically durable and abrasion tolerant superhydrophobicity on a rigid interface itself remains a highly challenging task, the design of superhydrophobic coating that can restrict both the...

Controlled tailoring of mechanical property and wettability is important for designing various functional materials. The integration of these characteristics with waste materials is immensely challenging to achieve, however, it can provide sustainable solutions to combat relevant environmental pollutions and other relevant challenges. Here, the strategic conversion of discarded and valueless waste paper into functional products has been introduced following a catalyst-free chemical approach to tailor both the mechanical property and water wettability at ambient conditions for sustainable waste management and controlling the relevant environmental pollution. In the current design, the controlled and appropriate silanization of waste paper allowed to modulate both the a) porosity and b) compressive modulus of the paper-derived sponges. Further, the association of 1,4conjugate addition reaction between amine and acrylate groups allowed to obtain an unconventional waste paper-derived chemically 'reactive' sponge. The appropriate covalent modification of the residual reactive acrylate groups with selected alkylamines at ambient conditions provided a facile basis to tailor the water wettability from moderate hydrophobicity, adhesive superhydrophobicity to non-adhesive superhydrophobicity. The embedded superhydrophobicity in the waste paper-derived sponge was capable of sustaining large physical deformations, severe physical abrasions, prolonged exposure to harsh aqueous conditions, etc. Further, the waste paper-derived, extremely water-repellent sponges and membranes were successfully extended for proof-ofconcept demonstration of a practically relevant outdoor application, where the repetitive remediation of oil spillages has been demonstrated following both selective absorption (25 times) of oils and gravity-driven filtration-based (50 times) separation of oils from oil/water mixtures at different harsh aqueous scenarios.