Ultrafast Oleophobic–Hydrophilic Switching Surfaces for Antifogging, Self-Cleaning, and Oil–Water Separation

Smooth copolymer-fluorosurfactant complex film surfaces are found to exhibit fast oleophobic-hydrophilic switching behavior. Equilibration of the high oil contact angle (hexadecane = 80°) and low water contact angle (<10°) values occurs within 10 s of droplet impact. These optically transparent surfaces display excellent antifogging and self-cleaning properties. The magnitude of oleophobic-hydrophilic switching can be further enhanced by the incorporation of surface roughness to an extent that it reaches a sufficiently high level (water contact angle <10° and hexadecane contact angle >110°), which, when combined with the inherent ultrafast switching speed, yields oil-water mixture separation efficiencies exceeding 98%.