Superhydrophobic, Reversibly Elastic, Moldable, and Electrospun (SupREME) Fibers with Multimodal Functions: From Oil Absorbents to Local Drug Delivery Adjuvants

Abstract

Surface hydrophobicity has served as a core means for governing the spatial behaviors of numerous substances depending on their affinities to oil or aqueous phases. Exploiting systems that can maximize hydrophobic features contributes to the development of versatile supports capable of spatially separating, guiding, or protecting target materials in defined manners. Herein, superhydrophobic, reversibly elastic, moldable, and electrospun (SupREME) fibers, which exhibit multimodal functions for arranging spatial responses of substances with distinct affinities to oil phases, are fabricated by coaxially electrospinning polysulfone and poly(glycerol sebacate) (PGS), followed by a thermal process. The exterior PSF layers enable volumetric expansion of the fibers, further reinforcing the overall superhydrophobicity (contact angles >150°). The elastic core PGS networks confer reversibly compressible properties (>100 cycles) to the fibers, ultimately enhancing their hydrophobic performance and extending their durability. The SupREME fibers demonstrate superiorities as absorbents for selectively separating oilbased substances, sealants for blocking the leakage of aqueous fluids, and adjuvants for temporarily enhancing the local residence of drugs by repelling ambient fluidic environments. The SupREME fibers can be versatile platforms in many applications that require the spatial regulation of specific substances with affinities to oil or water phases, ranging from environmental industries to medical fields.

3D‐Printed Biomimetic Super‐Hydrophobic Structure for Microdroplet Manipulation and Oil/Water Separation

“…The advantages of this technique enable its potential use as a new low cost toolbox for 3D culture in cell or tissue engineering. Besides, oil/water separation has been a worldwide subject because of the increasing release of industrial oily waste water as well as frequent crude oil leakage [29]. Here we demonstrate that our 3D-printed eggbeater structure presents an effective way of oil absorption and oil/water separation attributed to the different interfacial effects of oil and water for future separation device design.…”

Phase‐Changeable Nanoemulsions for Oral Delivery of a Therapeutic Peptide: Toward Targeting the Pancreas for Antidiabetic Treatments Using Lymphatic Transport

“…As described above, the fatty acid that is used as the continuous oil phase during emulsification at 37 °C must be melted, and the solidification of the emulsified oil droplets during storage at 4 °C may improve their long‐term stability. Moreover, the use of a longer‐chain fatty acid has been established to be more effective in enhancing drug transport across the intestinal epithelium . Therefore, capric acid, which is phase‐changeable between body temperature and 4 °C, was used to prepare the delivery vehicle (PC/NEMs) in this investigation.…”

Interlocked Dual‐Network and Superelastic Electrospun Fibrous Sponges for Efficient Low‐Frequency Noise Absorption

“…To conquer the disadvantages of the 2D membrane‐like noise reduction materials, great efforts have been made to construct electrospun 3D fiber assemblies, [ 20–23 ] which have maximized the benefit of electrospun fibers in the field of traffic noise reduction to a certain degree. Unfortunately, crucial limitations remain due to the inherent flaws in materials or methods.…”