Advances in Bioinspired Interfacial Materials with Superwettability

Surface superwettability is a central topic in chemistry, bionics, materials science and nanotechnology. In the past several decades, bioinspired surfaces with various extreme wetting states have been intensively explored and accelerated by discoveries of superwetting phenomena in nature. Nowadays, the research trends in superwettability are multifunctionality and functional integration in complex environments, which can be achieved by combing multiscale structures and different chemical compositions. Superwettability is now playing an increasingly important part in numerous applications ranging from coatings to printing and sensors, and from electrochemical catalysis to energy conversion systems. In order to provide an overview of the latest developments in the superwettability field, we organized two “International Symposium on Bioinspired Interfacial Materials with Superwettability” in 2015 and 2016 in China. These symposiums have gathered the international leading scientists in this field and provided a unique platform for discussion and communication. We hope more and more researchers participate in this symposium in future. This special issue includes 3 reviews, 1 concept and 14 research articles by colleagues from Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beihang University, Southeast University, Deakin University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, University of Zurich, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Jilin University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Wuhan University of Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Monash University, and Soochow University. The content of these articles covers a broad range of subjects, including smart surfaces with switchable wettability, oil/water separation, bio-inspired antibiofouling coatings, superwettability-based microfabrication, electrochemical reactions on superhydrophobic electrodes, directional liquid transport on anisotropic surfaces, sensors using ionic channels, wettability patterns, and nanomaterial printing techniques. We are honored to guest edit this special issue and thank our friends and colleagues who have chosen to participate in the special issue. We would also like to express our sincere appreciation to Dr. José Oliveira, Editor-in-Chief of Small, and Dr. Lulu Ma, Editor of Small, and the Small editorial team for their efforts to publish this special issue. We hope this special issue will be able to highlight the major developments in superwettability field. In particular, we expect that new thoughts and ideas will be continuously stimulated and generated by researchers from multidisciplinary fields, and in return, superwettability will contribute to developments in areas ranging from chemistry and biology, to material science. Mingjie Liu is currently a full professor at Beihang University. He received his B.S. degree in applied chemistry (2005) from Beijing University of Chemical Technology. In 2005, he joined Prof. Lei Jiang's group and received a Ph.D. degree from the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2010). He then worked as a postdoc in Prof. Takuzo Aida's group in Riken in Japan from 2010 to 2015. In 2015, he got the “1000 Youth Plan program” and joined Beihang University. His current research interests focus on hydrogel/organogel surfaces with super-wettability, anisotropic soft matter with ordered structures. Shutao Wang is currently a full professor at TIPCCAS. He received his B.S. degree (2000) and M.S. degree (2003) from Northeast Normal University and his Ph.D. degree in 2007 from ICCAS under the supervision of Prof. Lei Jiang. Then he worked in the Department of Molecular & Medical Pharmacology and California NanoSystem Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles as a postdoctoral researcher (2007–2010). He was appointed as a full Professor of Chemistry in 2010–2014 at ICCAS. His research interests include the design and synthesis of bioinspired interfacial materials with special adhesion and their applications at the nano-biointerface. Lei Jiang received his B.S. degree in solid state physics (1987), and M.S. degree in physical chemistry (1990) from Jilin University in China. From 1992–1994, he studied in the University of Tokyo in Japan as a China-Japan joint course Ph.D. student and received his Ph.D. degree from Jilin University of China with Prof. Tiejin Li. In 1996, he worked as researcher in Kanagawa Academy of Sciences and Technology, Prof. Hashimoto's project. In 1999, he joined Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). In 2015, he moved to the Technoligical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, CAS.