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Entrainment, where a solid object in a liquid bath moves towards the air phase, is common in industry and daily-life. However, most research on liquid entrainment has only focused on air–liquid interfaces, with little attention given to oil–water systems. Here, we look at a specific scenario where a solid object is immersed downwards from the upper oil phase to the lower water one. We demonstrate a biomimetic object, learned from bumble bees' tongues, with mesoscale structures that can keep the oil film and protect itself from the adhesion of water. By screening structure parameters, we find that the oil film can be sustained by both the propping effect of the structure and the flow and shape evolution. Heating the structure can recover the oil for effective recycling. This approach has the potential for oil spill cleanup by drilling oil spill film by using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, oily wastewater and spilled oil have caused great threats on both ecosystem and human life. To address these severe problems, considerable efforts have been possessed on developing novel oil/water separation materials. The porous oil-absorbent materials, especially the porous polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with excellent properties of easy fabrication and inherent hydrophobicity, have attracted tremendous attentions from worldwide. The conventional methods using salt or sugar as sacrificial template and water as solvent have been widely adopted to fabricate the porous PDMS sponge. Due to the inherent hydrophobicity of PDMS, the solvent of water hardly penetrates into the inside of PDMS, which results in the difficult and incomplete remove of the hard template. In this contribution, the 3D interconnected porous PDMS sponge is facilely prepared by utilizing a modified technique with the citric acid monohydrate as hard template and ethanol as solvent. The proposed approach is capable of removing the hard template efficiently and thoroughly, which demonstrates promising utilizations in practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen as a sustainable and clean energy source has attracted great attention with the increasing global energy crisis. However, sufficient production of hydrogen is seriously impeded by the adhesion of hydrogen bubble to electrodes. Efficient removal of hydrogen bubbles attached to the electrode can improve the efficiency of the hydrogen evolution reaction. Following this concept, numerous approaches to shorten the adhesion time of hydrogen bubbles on electrodes have been presented, such as ultrasonic treatment and electrode surface micro/nano-modification. Almost all of the existing solutions are based on the instant and direct release of generated hydrogen bubbles into the electrolyte, which can be identified as 'Releasing strategy' accordingly. In this contribution, an aerophilic electrode with cone shape is fabricated, from which the generated hydrogen bubbles can be timely removed through efficient and directional transportation (from tip to the base). Correspondingly, this approach is defined as 'Transporting strategy'. Furthermore, integrating the base of electrode with a superaerophilic sponge, which possesses excellent properties of efficiently absorbing and releasing gas bubbles, can realize the collection of generated hydrogen. It is believed that the present approach can contribute to promising applications in water electrolysis and will offer inspiration for fabricating novel hydrogen collector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Siphon is an effective method to transfer liquid from a higher to a lower level, which has many applications in hygienic design, clinical apparatus, and hydraulic engineering. Traditional operation requires energy to overcome gravity and establish flow in a closed system. Achieving sustainable high flux siphon drainage without energy input remains a challenge due to viscous dissipation. Here, an unexpected open siphon behavior on the South American pitcher plant Heliamphora minor consisting of trichomes covered pitcher and a wedge-shaped sheath is examined. Exploiting the concept of Digital Twin, a new biomimetic research method by transforming the biological sample to a virtual 3D model is proposed and unveiled that maintained connection of wicking on sub-millimeter long trichomes due to asymmetric pressure distribution and ascending in wedge sheath under unbalanced pressure forms continuous surface flow. Exploring this mechanism, a biomimetic siphon device achieving continuous high flux exposed to ambient air is constructed. Besides, particles floating on the meniscus in the outside wedge move under a curvature gradient as water ascends, which implies a biological nutrient capture method and new dust collection manner in the drainage system. Applying the underlying principle enhances the siphon efficiency of floor drains and has the potential for other liquid transfer device design improvements., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Separation of micro-scaled water-in-oil droplets is important in environmental protection, bioassays, and saving functional inks. So far, bulk oil-water separation has been achieved by membrane separation and sponge absorption, but micro-drop separation still remains a challenge. Herein we report that instead of the "plug-and-go" separation model, tiny water-in-oil droplets can be separated into pure water and oil droplets through "go-in-opposite ways" on curved peristome-mimetic surfaces, in milliseconds, without energy input. More importantly, this overflow controlled method can be applied to handle oil-in-oil droplets with surface tension differences as low as 14.7 mN m -1 and viscous liquids with viscosities as high as hundreds centipoises, which markedly increases the range of applicable liquids for micro-scaled separation. Furthermore, the curved peristome-mimetic surface guides the separated drops in different directions with high efficiency., (© 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)