Well-defined porous membranes for robust omniphobic surfaces via microfluidic emulsion templating.

ABSTRACT: Durability is a long-standing challenge in designing liquid-repellent surfaces. A high-performance omniphobic surface must robustly repel liquids, while maintaining mechanical/chemical stability. However, liquid repellency and mechanical durability are generally mutually exclusive properties for many omniphobic surfaces-improving one performance inevitably results in decreased performance in another. Here we report well-defined porous membranes for durable omniphobic surfaces inspired by the springtail cuticle. The omniphobicity is shown via an amphiphilic material micro-textured with re-entrant surface morphology; the mechanical durability arises from the interconnected microstructures. The innovative fabrication method-termed microfluidic emulsion templating-is facile, cost-effective, sc

SUBMITTER: Zhu P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5472779 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature