Porous membranes with special wettabilities: Designed fabrication and emerging application

Abstract

Porous materials have become a burgeoning research interest in materials science because of their intrinsic porous characteristics, versatile chemical compositions, and abundant functionalities. Recently, inspired by natural superwetting surfaces originating from the cooperation of surface energy and surface geometry, porous membranes with special wettabilities are finding emerging opportunities associated with a wide variety of environmental and energy-related applications. This review will present an overview of the state-of-the-art research on the designed fabrications and applications of superwetting porous membranes based on zeolites, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), porous organic materials (POMs), and mesoporous materials. General synthetic strategies for the fabrication of porous membranes (e.g., hydrothermal/solvothermal crystallization, interfacial polymerization, electrospinning, etc.), and principles for tuning the wettability of porous membranes through surface energy modulation are introduced. Furthermore, their emerging applications as oil–water separation membranes, lithium-ionbattery separators, self-cleaning layers, and anticorrosion coatings are demonstrated. Finally, we emphasize on future perspectives regarding the development of superwetting porous membranes for practical applications.