Themed collection Special Issue: Liquid-based Materials: Novel Concepts from Fundamentals to Applications

Xu Hou and Jungmok Seo introduce the Industrial Chemistry & Materials themed issue on liquid-based materials.

This review introduces the hydrophobic mechanism, natural materials and preparation strategies of green hydrophobic fabrics, and multi-functional textiles based on hydrophobic fabrics. The challenges and prospects in this field are also discussed.

Liquid-based electronic materials take bioelectronics a step forward to a seamlessly integrated human–machine interface owing to their conformability, durability, biocompatibility and flexibility.

Adding a secondary component to a liquid coating results in new and synergistic properties.

The electrostatically responsive liquid gating system employs small electric potentials to control the adsorption and desorption of anionic surfactants, enabling intelligent regulation of bubble size during the membrane dispersion process.

The utilization of surfactant-based liquid–liquid separation processes offers a promising approach for the recycling of valuable fine particulates derived from HTEL cells.

Multi-level electron beam irradiation enabled bifunctional gradient grafting on silicon microspheres and rapid curing of silicone rubber coatings, allowing linear control of hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity.

Asymmetric microfiber actuators, composed of a hydrophilic shell encapsulating hydrophobic microparticles, are engineered to undergo reciprocal deformations by hygroscopic actuation, precisely fabricated through droplet microfluidics technology.

Alternating reactive and inert surface regions give rise to concentration gradients that drive fluid flow. The significance of this flow regarding transport phenomena has been studied numerically.

Supporting Rh/TiO₂ on hydrophobic gas diffusion layers enhanced the photocatalytic WGS for H₂ production. Triphase interfaces play a crucial role in interfacial CO mass transfer, especially at low CO concentrations.