A responsive function is significant
to surfaces with special wettability,
especially for breaking through their limitations in practical applications.
We report a novel strategy, which is effective, scalable, versatile,
and low-cost, to produce the pH-responsive superwettable surface by
combining the pH-responsive branched polymer nanoparticles (PRBNs)
and conventional textile materials. The PRBN exhibiting a spherical
shape with strawberry-like rough surface is able to swell (diameter
of 71 nm) in an acidic aqueous solution and shrink to its original
size (diameter of 42 nm) in a neutral or basic aqueous solution; moreover,
the swelling–shrinking transition is reversible. The deposition
of PRBNs on polyester fabric provides the surface pH-responsive wettability
that is superhydrophobic to a neutral or basic aqueous solution (pH
≥ 7) with a contact angle above 150° and superhydrophilic
to an acidic aqueous solution (pH 1) with a contact angle of 0°.
Similar to the pH-responsive behavior of nanoparticles, this superhydrophobic–supehydrophilic
transition of fabric is also reversible. By adjusting the hydrophobic
substituents of PRBN, the wettability of fabric has remarkable changes.
The adhesion of PRBNs onto polyester fabric can be obviously enhanced
by the heating-press procedure so that its washability improves. These
results may provide a new horizon to design new-generation smart textiles
via utilizing controllable wettability.
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