Existing coating systems for preparing superamphiphobic surfaces are predominantly confined into small-scale uses due to the heavy use of organic solvents. Waterborne coating treatment is highly desirable for the high safety, low cost, and non-environmental impact, but remains difficult to develop due to the problems in forming durable, homogeneous coating from an aqueous dispersion of amphiphobic substances. In this study, we have proved that lyophobic nanoparticles, fluorinated alkyl silane (FAS), and fluorocarbon surfactant can form a stable dispersion in water, suitable for preparing durable superamphiphobic surfaces on various solid This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. 2 substrates. A series of substrates including fabrics, sponge, wood, glass, and metal, after being coated with this ternary coating system show superamphiphobicity with low contact angle hysteresis. The coating is durable enough against physical abrasion, repeated washing, boiling in water, and strong acid/base attacks. Benefiting from FAS, the coating also has a self-healing ability against both physical and chemical damages. The unexpected stability of the ternary dispersion is a result of the synergistic interaction of the three ingredients. Results from this study may promote the wide development of safe, and cost-efficient superamphiphobic techniques for diverse applications.Received: ((will be filled in by the editorial staff))Revised: ((will be filled in by the editorial staff)) Published online: ((will be filled in by the editorial staff))

Despite the high strength and stiffness of polymer nanocomposites, they usually display lower deformability and toughness relative to their matrices. Spider silk features exceptionally high stiffness and toughness via the hierarchical architecture based on hydrogen-bond (H-bond) assembly. Inspired by this intriguing phenomenon, we here exploit melamine (MA) to reinforce poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) via H-bond self-assembly at a molecular level. Our results have shown that due to the formation of physical cross-link network based on H-bond assembly between MA and PVA, yield strength, Young’s modulus, extensibility, and toughness of PVA are improved by 22, 25, 144, and 200% with 1.0 wt % MA, respectively. Moreover, presence of MA can enhance the thermal stability of PVA to a great extent, even exceeding some nanofillers (e.g., graphene). This work provides a facile method to improve the mechanical properties of polymers via H-bond self-assembly.

No abstract

Superhydrophilic and superoleophobic materials are very attractive for efficient and cost-effective oil-water separation, but also very challenging to prepare. Reported herein is a new superamphiphobic coating that turns superhydrophilic and superoleophobic upon ammonia exposure. The coating is prepared from a mixture of silica nanoparticles and heptadecafluorononanoic acid-modified TiO2 sol by a facile dip-coating method. Commonly used materials, including polyester fabric and polyurethane sponge, modified with this coating show unusual capabilities for controllable filtration of an oil-water mixture and selective removal of water from bulk oil. We anticipate that this novel coating may lead to the development of advanced oil-water separation techniques.

Liquid marbles exhibit great potential for use as miniature labs for small‐scale laboratory operations, such as experiment and measurement. While important progress has been made recently in exploring their applications as microreactions, “on‐line” measurement of the components inside the liquid still remains a challenge. Herein, it is demonstrated that “on‐line” detection can be realized on magnetic liquid marbles by taking advantage of their unique magnetic opening feature. By partially opening the particle shell, electrochemical measurement is carried out with a miniaturized three‐electrode probe and the application of this technique for quantitative measurement of dopamine is demonstrated. Fully opened magnetic liquid marble makes it feasible to detect the optical absorbance of the liquid in a transmission mode. With this optical method, a glucose assay is demonstrated. Moreover, when magnetic particle shell contains low melting point material, e.g., wax, the liquid marble shows a unique encapsulation ability to form a rigid shell after heating, which facilitates the storage of the non‐volatile ingredients. These unique features, together with the versatile use as microreactors, enable magnetic liquid marbles to function as a miniature lab (or called “lab in a droplet”), which may find applications in clinical diagnostics, biotechnology, chemical synthesis, and analytical chemistry.

Magnetic liquid marbles, an encapsulation of liquid droplet with hydrophobic magnetic particles, show remarkable responsiveness to external magnetic force and great potential to be used as a discrete droplet microfluidic system. In this study, we presented the manipulation of a magnetic liquid marble under an external magnetic field and calculated the maximum frictional force, the magnetic force required for actuating the liquid marbles and the effective surface tension of the magnetic liquid marble, as well as the threshold volume for the transition from quasispherical to puddle-like shape. By taking advantage of the unique feature of being opened and closed reversibly, we have proven the encapsulated droplets can be detected optically with a reflection-mode probe. Combining the open-close and optical detection also enables to probe chemical reactions taking place within liquid marbles. These remarkable features offer a simple yet powerful alternative to conventional discrete microfluidic systems and may have wide applications in biomedical and drug discovery.

The realization of high strength, large ductility, and great toughness for polymeric materials is a vital factor for practical applications in industry. Unfortunately, until now this remains a huge challenge due to the common opposing trends that exist when promoting improvements in these properties using materials design strategies. In the natural world, the cuticle of mussel byssus exhibits a breaking strain as high as 100%, which is revealed to arise from an architectural granular microphase-separated structure within the protein matrix. Herein, a facile biomimetic designed granular nanostructured polymer film is reported. Such biomimetic nanostructured polymer films show a world-record toughness of 122 (± 6.1) J g as compared with other polyvinyl alcohol films, with a breaking strain as high as 205% and a high tensile strength of 91.2 MPa, which is much superior to those of most engineering plastics. This portfolio of outstanding properties can be attributed to the unique nanoscale granular phase-separated structure of this material. These biomimetic designed polymer films are expected to find promising applications in tissue engineering and biomaterials fields, such as artificial skin and tendon, which opens up an innovative methodology for the design of robust polymer materials for a range of innovative future applications.

Reaction-induced microphase separation in epoxy thermosets containing an amphiphilic diblock copolymer was investigated in this work. To this end, the diblock copolymer poly( -caprolactone)-block-poly-(n-butyl acrylate) (PCL-b-PBA) was synthesized via the combination of ring-opening polymerization (ROP) and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The block copolymer was incorporated into epoxy thermosets. Before the curing reaction all the subchains of the diblock copolymer were miscible with the precursors of epoxy resin. After curing, only the PBA blocks were separated out whereas the PCL blocks remained miscible with epoxy resin. Such a reaction-induced microphase separation results in the formation of ordered nanostructures in the thermosets. The nanostructures in the thermosets were investigated by means of field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). It is found that, depending on the concentration of the diblock copolymer, the thermosets can displayed spherical particles or lamellar nanostructures. The SAXS curves with the multiple scattering maxima suggests that the thermosets possess long-range ordered nanostructures.