Yongchun Liu^1,*, Ni Qiao², Yanli Yang³, Yanchun Li¹, Chunxiao He¹, Siyang Wang¹, Chengcheng Liu¹, Ruixia Lei¹, Wang Li⁴, Wenwen Gao⁴

FDMP-Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing, Vol.20, No.2, pp. 383-400, 2024, DOI:10.32604/fdmp.2023.041928

Abstract A silylated melamine sponge (SMS) was prepared by two simple steps, namely, immersion and dehydration of a melamine sponge coated with methyltrichlorosilane. The silylated structure of SMS was characterized by FT-IR (Fourier-transform infrared) spectroscopy, SEM (Scanning electron microscopy) and in terms of water contact angles. Its oil-water absorption and separation capacities were measured by FT-IR and UV-visible spectrophotometry. The experimental results have shown that oligomeric silanol covalently bonds by Si−N onto the surface of melamine sponge skeletons. SMS has shown superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle exceeding 150° ± 1°, a better separation efficiency with regard to diesel oil (by 99.31% (wt/wt%)… More >

Yunyun Song¹, Xu Zhang¹, Jialei Yang¹, Zhongqiang Zhang^1,*, Guanggui Cheng¹

The International Conference on Computational & Experimental Engineering and Sciences, Vol.25, No.2, pp. 1-1, 2023, DOI:10.32604/icces.2023.09916

Abstract Although floating oil with large particle sizes can easily be separated from water by membrane separation methods, tiny oil droplets with tremendously small volume force and density gradient at oil-water interfaces within water lead to barriers of oil-water separation. Consequently, tiny oil droplets remain in the water, resulting in energy waste, environmental pollution and biological health hazard. Traditional super-wetting membranes with extremely small pore sizes were easily blocked during the oil-water separation process. Inspired by the cactus and rice leaf, we developed a superhydrophobic-superoleophilic surface with conical micro-arrays to realize ultrafast adsorption of tiny oil droplets within the water. The… More >

Jiakun Shi¹, Bizhu Zhang¹, Xin Zhou¹, Runxian Liu¹, Jun Hu^1,2,*, Huaan Zheng¹, Zhong Chen^3,*

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.10, No.5, pp. 1239-1255, 2022, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2022.018045

Abstract As a passive anti-icing strategy, properly designed superhydrophobic coatings can demonstrate outstanding performances. However, common preparation strategies for superhydrophobic coatings often lead to environmental pollution, high energy-consumption, high-cost and other undesirable issues. Besides, the durability of superhydrophobic coating also plagues its commercial application. In this paper, we introduced a facile and environment-friendly technique for fabricating abrasion-resistant superhydrophobic surfaces using thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and modified SiO₂ particles (SH-SiO₂). Both materials are non-toxicity, low-cost, and commercial available. Our methodology has the following advantages: use of minimal amounts of formulation, take the most streamlined technical route, and no waste material. These advantages make… More > Graphic Abstract

Cong Qi^*, Yuxing Wang, Zi Ding, Jianglin Tu, Mengxin Zhu

Energy Engineering, Vol.118, No.4, pp. 825-852, 2021, DOI:10.32604/EE.2021.014806

Abstract Boiling heat transfer is a mode using the phase change of working medium to strengthen the heat exchange due to its good heat exchange capability, and it is widely used in heat exchange engineering. Nanofluids have been used in the direction of enhanced heat transfer for their superior thermophysical property. The wetting, spreading and ripple phenomena of superhydrophobic surfaces widely exist in nature and daily life. It has great application value for engineering technology. In this article, the boiling heat exchange characteristics of nanofluids on superhydrophobic surface are numerically studied. It was found that with the increase of superheating degree,… More >

Jiangyong Bao¹, Jianjun He^1,*, Biao Chen², Kaijun Yang¹, Jun Jie², Ruifeng Wang¹, Shihao Zhang²

Energy Engineering, Vol.118, No.4, pp. 947-959, 2021, DOI:10.32604/EE.2021.014535

Abstract As a surface functional material, super-hydrophobic coating has great application potential in wind turbine blade anti-icing, self-cleaning and drag reduction. In this study, ZnO and SiO₂ multi-scale superhydrophobic coatings with mechanical flexibility were prepared by embedding modified ZnO and SiO₂ nanoparticles in PDMS. The prepared coating has a higher static water contact angle (CA is 153°) and a lower rolling angle (SA is 3.3°), showing excellent super-hydrophobicity. Because of its excellent superhydrophobic ability and micro-nano structure, the coating has good anti-icing ability. Under the conditions of −10°C and 60% relative humidity, the coating can delay the freezing time by 1511S,… More >

Senyun Liu^1,2, Qinglin Liu^1,2, Xian Yi^1,2,*, Yizhou Shen^4,*, Long Guo^1,2, Wenqing Hou⁴, Haifeng Chen³, Zhen Wang⁴

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.8, No.12, pp. 1617-1631, 2020, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2020.014158

Abstract The aim of this study is to explore the heterogeneous ice nucleation behavior based on controllable micro-cubic array structure surfaces from the statistic perspective. To this end, we firstly constructed a group of micro-cubic array structures on silicon substrates by a selective plasma etching technique. After grafting low-free-energy substance, the as-constructed micro-cubic array structure surfaces exhibited higher non-wettability with the water contact angle being up to 150°. On this basis, 500 cycles of freezing and melting processes were accurately recorded to analyze the instantaneous ice nucleation behavior according to the statistical results of freezing temperature. As a consequence, the statistical… More >

José M. R. C. A. Santos^*, Ana R. Sampaio, Joana Branquinho

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.4, No.1, pp. 31-40, 2016, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2015.634123

Abstract Cellulose-based materials are one of the most widely used materials provided by nature to mankind. In particular, cotton fi bers have been used for millennia to produce clothing items. This wide usage stems from the inherent properties of cotton fabrics such as hydrophilicity and permeability to water vapor. However, increasingly sophisticated uses for cotton-based clothing (e.g., technical textiles) demand specifi c properties such as hydrophobicity and oleophobicity for repellent functions. The current surface treatments used to attain these functionalities are based on thermally initiated polymerization reactions, using water-based formulations. Thus, the current technologies are energy- and water-intensive. The advantages of… More >