pH-responsive smart fabrics with controllable wettability in different surroundings

Abstract

Carboxyl-terminated polymers are known as good candidates for realizing the surfaces pH-responsive wettability. In the present work, we have successfully fabricated smart fabrics with both pH-responsive water wettability in air and pH-responsive oil wettability underwater via in situ growth of Ag nanocrystals on the fabric surface followed by surface modification with a mixture of methyl-terminated thiol and carboxyl-terminated thiol. In air, the resultant fabric shows superhydrophobic property to neutral and acidic water and superhydrophilic property to basic water. In aqueous environment, the fabric shows superoleophilic property in acidic/neutral aqueous environment and superoleophobic property in basic aqueous environment. The resultant fabric is expected to be used in many practical applications, such as the design of functional interface materials for either in-air or underwater surrounding and dual water/oil on–off switch.