Multiple functional superwettability fabrics

Multiple functional fabrics not only provide essential functions for dressing, but also offer additional functions and special properties such as superhydrophobicity, superamphiphilicity, oil absorption capacity, and directional-oil transport. This PhD project is focused on functional fabrics with novel multiple superwettability, which has special wettability properties, including their preparation and novel property

Water drop-surface interactions as the basis for the design of anti-fogging surfaces : theory, practice, and applications trends

Glass- and polymer-based materials have become essential in the fabrication of a multitude of elements, including eyeglasses, automobile windshields, bathroom mirrors, greenhouses, and food packages, which unfortunately mist up under typical operating conditions. Far from being an innocuous phenomenon, the formation of minute water drops on the surface is detrimental to their optical properties (e.g., light-transmitting capability) and, in many cases, results in esthetical, hygienic, and safety concerns. In this context, it is therefore not surprising that research in the field of fog-resistant surfaces is gaining in popularity, particularly in recent years, in view of the growing number of studies focusing on this topic. This review addresses the most relevant advances released thus far on anti-fogging surfaces, with a particular focus on coating deposition, surface micro/nanostructuring, and surface functionalization. A brief explanation of how surfaces fog up and the main issues of interest linked to fogging phenomenon, including common problems, anti-fogging strategies, and wetting states are first presented. Anti-fogging mechanisms are then discussed in terms of the morphology of water drops, continuing with a description of the main fabrication techniques toward anti-fogging property. This review concludes with the current and the future perspectives on the utility of anti-fogging surfaces for several applications and some remaining challenges in this field

Dielectric barrier discharges : a promising tool for the fabrication of anti-fogging coatings

La « vue floue » typique des surfaces embuées peut être extrêmement frustrante. Des exemples tels que les lunettes qui s’embuent pendant l’activité physique, la condensation qui se forme à l’intérieur des fenêtres pendant l’hiver ou les miroirs qui se couvrent de buée pendant la douche le démontrent. En outre, la présence de buée sur les surfaces cause des effets néfastes dans certains secteurs d’activité comme l’industrie automobile (pare-brise et rétroviseurs), l’industrie optique (objectifs, caméras, télescopes et capteurs), l’industrie solaire (modules photovoltaïques), l’industrie alimentaire (emballages d’aliments) et le secteur médical (lunettes et endoscopes). Au cours de la dernière décennie, l’application de revêtements (super)hydrophiles a suscité un intérêt croissant, en raison de leur capacité d’atténuer les effets de la buée. Leur principe de fonctionnement repose sur l’utilisation de matériaux interagissant avec les gouttes d’eau pour en modifier leur morphologie, générant une couche mince d’eau sur la surface. Ainsi, la lumière incidente n’est pas dispersée et les effets de la buée sont amoindris. Jusqu’à présent, la plupart des techniques de dépôt explorées pour produire des revêtements (super) hydrophiles sont inaccessibles à la production de masse en raison de leur nature multiétape. Pour cette raison, l’exploration de techniques adaptées à ce type de production, telles que les décharges à barrière diélectrique à pression atmosphérique (AP-DBD), un type de procédé de dépôt chimique en phase vapeur assisté par plasma (AP-PECVD), est cruciale afin d’élargir l’utilisation des revêtements antibuée au-delà du laboratoire. Dans un procédé AP-PECVD contrôlé par des barrières diélectriques (AP-DBD), certains précurseurs inorganiques ou organométalliques (e.g., TiCl4, TiN, SiH4, Si2O(CH3)2) sont introduits entre deux électrodes parallèles avec un gaz vecteur (e.g., N2, Ar, He) à la pression atmosphérique, où ils se fragmentent à la suite d’interactions avec les espèces du plasma. Les fragments résultants réagissent les uns avec les autres ou avec le substrat afin de produire les espèces réactives requises au dépôt du revêtement. Les caractéristiques structurelles et fonctionnelles des revêtements PECVD (e.g., la rugosité de surface, la biocompatibilité, les propriétés optiques et de mouillage) dépendent des certains paramètres de dépôt, tels que la puissance dissipée dans la décharge, le type de décharge, la concentration de précurseurs et le débit de gaz. La possibilité de se procurer des échantillons de verre dotés de la propriété antibuée via APPECVD a été démontrée dans cette thèse. En contrôlant les paramètres de dépôt, les revêtements antibuée ont été préparés en utilisant du 1,3,5,7-tétraméthylcyclotétrasiloxane (Si4O4H4(CH3)4) et de l’oxyde nitreux (N2O) au moyen d’une DBD fonctionnant en N2 à la pression atmosphérique. Dans le cas des revêtements fabriqués dans des conditions statiques (aucun mouvement entre l’échantillon de verre et les électrodes), l’évaluation quantitative de la résistance à la buée (ASTM F 659-06) a révélé que les revêtements obtenus avec un rapport [N2O]/[TMCTS] ³ 30 ou avec une puissance dissipée ³ 0,25 W cm-2 sont antibuée (transmittance > 80%) en raison de leur nature hydrophile. La quantité de précurseur et d’oxydant injectée dans la décharge, exprimée par la somme « [N2O] + [TMCTS] », n’agissait que peu sur la performance antibuée. En l’absence de changements significatifs dans la rugosité de surface (Rrms et Ra étant compris entre 3 et 6 nm), l’origine de la performance antibuée a été attribuée à la chimie de surface. Couplé aux rapports O/Si (résultats XPS), un paramètre arbitraire, appelé « rapport d’embuage » a été défini en considérant les résultats FTIR pour expliquer les performances antibuée observées. On a pu constater qu’un rapport O/Si ≥ 2,3 couplé à un rapport d’embuage dans l’intervalle de 0-0,10, résultant de la présence de fonctionnalités hydrophiles, telles que les groupes silanol, hydroxyle, carboxyle or ester à la surface étaient nécessaires pour atteindre la propriété antibuée. Par ailleurs, les revêtements préparés dans des conditions dynamiques utilisant trois autres précurseurs aux structures différentes quant à la présence d’un cycle et au nombre de groupes Si-H et Si-CH3 (l’octaméthylcyclotétrasiloxane, le 1,1,3,3-tétraméthyldisiloxane et l’hexaméthyldisiloxane) n’étaient pas antibuée. Ce résultat porte à croire que la structure cyclique du TMCTS et la forte réactivité des liaisons Si-H est à l’origine de la formation de ces fonctionnalités hydrophiles et par conséquent, à la performance antibuée observée dans les verres traités en injectant du TMCTS dans la décharge plasma.Experience shows that the “blurred view” typical of fogged surfaces can be incredibly frustrating. Eyewear fogging up during physical activity, condensation forming on the inside of windows during the winter, or bathroom mirrors steaming up when taking a shower are some obvious examples. In addition to being upsetting, the fogging of surfaces has been reported to cause adverse effects on sectors of activity as diverse as the automotive industry (e.g., windshield glass and rearview mirrors), the optical industry (e.g., lenses, cameras, telescopes, and sensors), the solar industry (e.g., photovoltaic modules), the food industry (e.g., food packaging), and medicine (e.g., goggles and endoscopes). Over the last decade, interest has been growing in the application of hydrophilic and superhydrophilic coatings, as they can efficiently mitigate the effects of fogging by changing the morphology of fog drops. The working principle of a (super)hydrophilic surface is based on the use of materials producing a thin film of water on the solid surface on interaction with fog drops. As a result, incident light transmits without being scattered and the effects of fogging are minimized. Unfortunately, most of the deposition techniques used thus far for the fabrication of (super)hydrophilic coatings involves multiple steps, thus making their integration into mass production a challenging task. For this reason, the exploration of deposition techniques adapted for large-scale production is crucial to broaden the range of application of antifogging coatings beyond the laboratory. In this regard, numerous studies on the use of dielectric barriers in plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition at atmospheric pressure (AP-PECVD) are strongly emerging to address this issue. In a typical AP-PECVD controlled by dielectric barriers, inorganic or organometallic precursors (e.g., TiCl4, TiN, SiH4, Si2O(CH3)2) are introduced between two parallel electrodes along with a carrier gas (e.g., N2, Ar, He) at atmospheric pressure where, on interaction with plasma species, undergo fragmentation. The resulting fragments can react with the substrate or with each other to produce short-lived species required for coating deposition. The structural and functional features of PECVD coatings (e.g., surface roughness, biocompatibility, wetting and optical properties) depend on several deposition parameters, including the power dissipated in the discharge, type of plasma discharge, precursor concentration, and the flow rate of gases. With this in mind, the feasibility of conferring fogging resistance to commercial glass samples via AP-PECVD has been demonstrated in this doctoral thesis. By appropriately controlling the deposition parameters, anti-fogging coatings were prepared using 1,3,5,7- tetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane (Si4O4H4(CH3)4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) by a dielectric barrier discharge operated in N2 at atmospheric pressure (AP-DBD). When coating deposition was conducted in static conditions, that is, with no relative movement between the glass sample and the electrodes, quantitative assessment of the fogging resistance (ASTM F 659-06 standard) revealed that coatings obtained under [N2O]/[TMCTS] ratios ³ 30 or under a dissipated power ³ 0.25 W cm-2 endowed glass samples with the anti-fogging property (transmittance > 80%), because of their hydrophilic nature. In terms of the [N2O] + [TMCTS] sum, the amount of TMCTS and N2O injected into the discharge did not appear to have a great impact on the anti-fogging performance. Indeed, as no significant changes in surface roughness were observed (Rrms and Ra were between 3 and 6 nm), the origin of the anti-fogging performance was attributed to the surface chemistry. To this end, an arbitrary parameter, called “fogging ratio”, was defined considering FTIR results to account for, along with O/Si ratios (XPS results), the observed anti-fogging performance. Fogging ratios in the 0-0.10 range coupled with O/Si ratios ³ 2.3, resulting from the presence of hydrophilic functionalities, such as silanol (Si-OH), hydroxyl (C-OH) carboxyl (COOH), and ester (COOR) groups at the coating surface were necessary to attain the anti-fogging property. Interestingly, coatings prepared in dynamic conditions using three other precursors with different structures and different number of Si-H and Si-CH3 groups; namely, octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (OMCTS), 1,1,3,3-tetramethyldisiloxane (TMDSO), and hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) were not fogging-resistant. This result leads us to believe that the cyclic structure of TMCTS in conjunction with the high reactivity of Si-H bonds is behind the formation of the above-mentioned hydrophilic functionalities, and thus the antifogging performance of TMCTS-coated glasses

Double layer SiO2–TiO2 sol–gel thin films on glass for antireflection, antifogging, and UV recoverable self-cleaning

Double layer thin films, mechanically stable and adhering to glass, were produced through the sol–gel process, using tetraethyl orthosilicate and titanium butoxide as precursors. The refractive index of the titania and silica– titania composite layers were typically 2.1 and 1.7, and their physical thicknesses were approximately 65 nm and 81 nm, respectively, as determined by ellipsometry. These optical constants allowed attainment of quarterwave optical thicknesses at the center of the visible spectrum (550 nm) as designed, with an increase of 3.4% in transmittance. The nanometric surface roughness, measured by optical profilometry, was effective to decrease light scattering and water contact angles to below 10◦ . As novelty in dip-coated sol–gel films, superhydrophilicity for self-cleaning, antifogging, and antireflection in the mid-visible spectrum were simultaneously attained with durability of 9 weeks in the dark. Further application of UV light allowed regeneration of contact angles for self-cleaning

Functional Nanocomposite Surfaces for Antibacterial, Oil–Water Separation, and Optical Applications

Surface functionalisation can be used to modify the interaction between liquids and solid surfaces which is of importance in many applications such as self-cleaning, anti-fouling, and anti-fogging. The use of nanocomposite materials also provides a way of improving particular properties of the film even when small amounts of nano-material is used. The use of nanocomposite coatings to tailor the wettability, as well as to incorporate additional properties into surface coatings has been studied in this thesis for antibacterial, oil–water separation, and optical applications. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to nanocomposite coatings including a brief review of how they are prepared and for what applications they are used. Chapter 2 provides information on how surface wettability is measured as well as summarising the other experimental techniques used throughout this thesis. Chapter 3 describes the application of polymer–nanoparticle–fluorosurfactant complex nanocomposite coatings for antibacterial oil–water separation applications. Porous substrates coated with these polymer–nanoparticle–fluorosurfactant complex nanocomposite coatings are found to readily separate oil–water mixtures under both static and continuous flow as well as displaying antibacterial surface properties against Escherichia coli (Gram-negative bacteria) and Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive bacteria). A key advantage of this approach for coating substrates is its single-step simplicity. Potential applications include provision of safe drinking water, environmental pollution clean-up, and anti-fogging. Chapter 4 utilises a single-step, low temperature, solventless atomised spray plasma deposition technique for the preparation of antibacterial polymer–metallosurfactant nanocomposite coatings which are highly active against both Escherichia coli (Gram-negative bacteria) and Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive bacteria). Chapter 5 extends the use of the atomised spray plasma deposition technique into optical applications with the preparation of high refractive index hybrid polymer and polymer–inorganic nanocomposite coatings. Refractive indices as high as 1.936 at 635 nm wavelength have been obtained for 4-bromostyrene / toluene + TiO2 layers using very low titania loadings (8% w/v). Thin films with any desired refractive index up to 1.936 can be easily deposited by varying the precursor mixture composition

Recent advancements in the use of aerosol-assisted atmospheric pressure plasma deposition

Atmospheric pressure plasma allows for the easy modification of materials' surfaces for a wide range of technological applications. Coupling the aerosol injection of precursors with atmospheric pressure plasma largely extends the versatility of this kind of process; in fact solid and, in general, scarcely volatile precursors can be delivered to the plasma, extending the variety of chemical pathways to surface modification. This review provides an overview of the state of the art of aerosol-assisted atmospheric pressure plasma deposition. Advantages (many), and drawbacks (few) will be illustrated, as well as hints as to the correct coupling of the atomization source with the plasma to obtain specific coatings. In particular, the deposition of different organic, hybrid inorganic-organic and bioactive nanocomposite coatings will be discussed. Finally, it will be shown that, in particular cases, unique core-shell nanocapsules can be obtained

초친수 나노구조체의 형성과 그 응용

학위논문(박사)--서울대학교 대학원 :공과대학 재료공학부,2020. 2. 오규환.자연의 많은 생물들은 기능성 표면을 가지고 주변환경에 적응하며 생존해 나가고 있다. 이들의 표면을 자세히 들여다 보면, 미세하게 거친 표면을 가진 것을 확인할 수 있다. 이런 거칠기를 가진 표면은 친수 또는 소수 표면을 구현하는데 중요한 역할을 하는 것이 밝혀져 있으며, 많은 연구자들에게 영감을 주고 있다. 그래서 우리는 이 개념을 바탕으로 많은 도전적인 주제들이 있는 방유성(anti-oil fouling), 자가세정(self-cleaning), 그리고, 김 서림 방지(anti-fogging) 등의 연구분야에서 해결책을 제시하고자 하였다. 첫 장에서는 나노구조를 가진 셀룰로오스 섬유와 공기방울을 이용해서 건조상태에서 기름에 오염되어도 쉽게 물로 세척하는 기술을 연구하였다. 나노구조가 생성된 섬유와 다공성 구조 특성의 두 가지 기능을 활용하여, 건조상태에서 기름에 오염된 표면을 세척하는 기술이다. 고종횡비 (high-aspect-ratio) 나노구조가 생성된 표면은 기름과 맞닿는 표면의 면적을 줄이고, 물에 의한 기름의 세척력을 증대시킨다. 다공성 구조의 섬유는 많은 공기를 함유하고 있어서 기름에 오염된 후 물에 의해 세척 시 배압(backpressure)과 부력을 작용시켜서 오염된 표면에서 기름의 탈락을 가속시킨다. 이 원리를 기반으로 초친수 경향을 갖는 셀룰로오스 기반의 레이온 섬유에 선택적 산소 플라즈마 에칭을 통해서 고종횡비의 나노 구조를 생성 시키고, 기름에 오염된 표면을 다양한 방법으로 검증하여 최적의 성능을 제시한다. 또한, 수중 센서의 기름오염을 방지할 수 있는 센서 보호막의 시연을 통해서, 유수분리뿐만 아니라, 수중 UAV 등의 분야에 적용할 수 있는 가능성을 제시하였다. 두 번째 장에서는, 첫 번째 장에서 연구한 내용을 더욱 개선하여 투명하면서도 방유성을 갖는 합성 폴리머 표면을 연구하였다. 기존의 합성 폴리머는 고유의 친유성 (oleophilic) 으로 인하여, 기름에 쉽게 오염되어 수중 카메라나, 수중 광학센서의 렌즈로 사용할 수 없었다. 그래서 대부분의 수중 방유성(anti-oil fouling)을 갖는 소재는 유리와 같은 세라믹 소재에서 집중적으로 연구되었다. 이에 우리는 선택적 산소 플라즈마 에칭 기법을 통하여, 폴리머 (PET) 표면의 화학적 특성을 통제하고, 나아가서 일반적으로 매끄러운 표면인 투명한 표면에 코팅을 효과적으로 할 수 있도록, 고종횡비의 나노구조를 형성시킨 후 하이드로젤 코팅을 통해서 이 난관을 극복하였다. 이를 통해서 수중 카메라에 적용하여 기름이 유출된 물에서도 기름의 오염 걱정 없이 사용할 수 있는 기술을 시연하였다. 세 번째 장에서는, 대부분의 기름이 유출되는 바다환경에서의 고종횡비 나노 구조의 방유성을 검증하기 위한 연구를 진행하였다. 바닷물은 다량의 미네랄과 불순물을 함유하고 있어서, 해양환경에서 작업 후에 담수 세척 없이 보관 시에 소금과 같은 미네랄의 석출을 동반한다. 이때 석출되는 미네랄은 나노구조를 가진 표면에 손상을 가하여, 방유성 등의 기능저하를 야기할 수 있다. 이에 우리는 나노구조에서 미네랄의 석출 거동에 대한 실험과 모델링으로 검증하여, 손상 없는 결과와 원리를 규명하였다.Many of the creatures that exist in the nature have evolved their own functional surface to survive at surrounding environments and showing amazing functional performance. The fact was revealed, many of these surface have roughed structures from micro-scale to nano-scale. It gives lots of insights and ideas for many researchers. Hence we fabricated roughed surface to solve the existing challenging topics or problems like oil-water separation, self-cleaning surface, and anti-fogging. Nanostructured cellulose fabric with an air-bubble enhanced anti-oil fouling property is introduced for quick oil-cleaning under a dry state. Anti-oil-fouling under a dry state was realized through two main features of the nanostructured, porous fabric: a low solid fraction with high-aspect-ratio nanostructures significantly increasing the retracting forces, and trapped multiscale air bubbles increasing the buoyancy and backpressure for an oil-layer rupture. The nanostructures were formed on cellulose-based rayon microfibers through selective etching with oxygen plasma, forming a nanoscale open-pore structure. Viscous crude oil fouled on a fabric under a dry state was cleaned by immersion into water owing to a higher water affinity of the rayon material and low solid fraction of the high-aspect-ratio nanostructures. Air bubbles trapped in dry porous fibers and nanostructures promote oil detachment from the fouled sites. The macroscale bubbles add buoyancy on top of the oil droplets, enhancing the oil receding at the oil-water-solid interface, whereas the relatively smaller microscale bubbles induce a backpressure underneath the oil droplets. The oil-proofing fabric was used for protecting underwater conductive sensors, allowing a robot fish to swim freely in oily water. In addition, we fabricated a highly adhesive hydrogel coating layer on nanostructured polyethylene terephthalate (PET) polymer with high transparency and excellent underwater anti-oil-fouling properties. One-step selective oxygen plasma etching was adopted for the introduction of not only hydrophilicity, but also nanoscale roughness with high-aspect-ratio nanostructures (HARns) to enhance interfacial adhesion strength between the transparent hydrogel (polyacrylamide, PAAm) coating and PET substrate via mechanical interlocking. The transparency, which was initially reduced by the HARns, was improved by the hydrogel coating on the nanostructured PET because the refractive indices are well matched between the hydrogel and PET. Because the HARns formed on the PET appear as reflections on the hydrogel-coated surface, the PAAm-coated HARn PET was found to exhibit enhanced hydrophilicity and underwater oleophobicity, even for highly viscous crude oil, without aging. The PAAm-coated HARn PET was applied to an underwater optical device protector to provide anti-oil fouling in oily water. Its strong anti-oil fouling properties were well maintained after the polymer was physically damaged, allowing our it can be applied in wide range of application as protective windows for underwater cameras, optical sensors, and biosensors. Additionally, as global oil production and transportation increase, oil spill probability also increases, and most these accidents occur at the ocean. Hence, most oil spill managements are operated in the maritime environment. However, recent oil cleanup studies have been getting focused development of oil-water separation efficiency using hydrophilic functional surfaces with few considering the real operation condition. Furthermore, functional surfaces can be easily fouled or damaged by precipitated minerals in seawater. Here, we introduce the mineral precipitation control using high aspect-ratio (AR) nanostructures, inspired by plants water-mineral transportation mechanism. These are explained from experiments and numerical analysis with simple efflorescence model, that high AR nanostructures does not damage from the mineral crystallization even the hydrophilic nano-pillars were totally immersed in seawater. We also demonstrate robustness of underwater superoleophobicity by control the high AR.Chapter 1. Introduction 1 1.1. Research background 1 1.1.1. Functional Surface of nature 1 1.1.2. Research flow 3 Chapter 2. Multi air-bubble enhanced oil rupture on nanostructured cellulose fabric for self-oil-cleaning under a dry state 5 2.1 Introductioin 5 2.1.1. Nature inspired solution for the existing problem 9 2.1.2. Approach for the oil cleaning at dry environment 11 2.2 Result and Discussion 15 2.2.1. Oil cleaning on nanostructured hydrophilic fabric 15 2.2.2. Oil cleaning on nanostructured hydrophilic fabrics 19 2.2.3. Nanostructure-enhanced oil detachment with air bubbles and backpressure 25 2.2.4. Air-bubble induced oil cleaning 33 2.2.5. Cyclic test for self-oil-cleaning 38 2.2.6. Oil-proofing sensor cover for robot fish 40 2.3 Conclusion 42 2.4 Methods 43 2.5 References 44 Chapter 3. Transparent and highly adhesive hydrogel coated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) for anti-oil fouling 48 3.1 Introduction 48 3.2 Materials and Methods 55 3.2.1. Materials 55 3.2.2. Surface modification of the PET film 55 3.2.3. Surface characterization 56 3.2.4. Measurement of coating adhesion 57 3.3 Results and discussion 58 3.3.1. Surface modification 58 3.3.2. Hydrophilicity and underwater oleophobicity of PET with wettability aging 62 3.3.3. Enhanced hydrogel coating adhesion 67 3.3.4. Optical transmittance of modified surfaces 77 3.3.5. Application to underwater optical sensor protection and scratch durability 80 3.4 Conclusions 87 3.5 References 88 Chapter 4. Anti-Mineral fouling 96 4.1 Introduction 96 4.2 Method 99 4.3 Experiment 100 4.3.1. Increase of surface roughness using O2 plasma treatment 100 4.3.2. Robustness of hydrophilicity and underwater oleophobicity 103 4.3.3. Hydrophilic/hydrophobic surfaces water wet behavior 105 4.3.4. NaCl precipitation behavior on the hydrophilic/hydrophobic nanostructures. 107 4.3.5. Salt precipitation on the hydrophilic surface 109 4.4 Salt precipitation analysis 111 4.4.1. System description 111 4.4.2. Salt solution evaporation and diffusion under efflorescence principle 114 4.5 Conclusion 116 Abstract in Korean 118Docto

Future antiviral polymers by plasma processing

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is largely threatening global public health, social stability, and economy. Efforts of the scientific community are turning to this global crisis and should present future preventative measures. With recent trends in polymer science that use plasma to activate and enhance the functionalities of polymer surfaces by surface etching, surface grafting, coating and activation combined with recent advances in understanding polymer-virus interactions at the nanoscale, it is promising to employ advanced plasma processing for smart antiviral applications. This trend article highlights the innovative and emerging directions and approaches in plasma-based surface engineering to create antiviral polymers. After introducing the unique features of plasma processing of polymers, novel plasma strategies that can be applied to engineer polymers with antiviral properties are presented and critically evaluated. The challenges and future perspectives of exploiting the unique plasma-specific effects to engineer smart polymers with virus-capture, virus-detection, virus-repelling, and/or virus-inactivation functionalities for biomedical applications are analysed and discussed

Exploitation of Super(de)wettability via Scalable Hierarchical Surface Texturing

The field of wettability is an age-old topic that has been revitalized in the last two decades. Historically, the diverse physical phenomena of wetting has influenced the development of inventions that dates back to the paleolithic era (2,600,000 to 10,000 BC) in the form of charcoal and ochre -based cave paintings, or the mesolithic (10,000 to 5,000 BC) and neolithic (5,000 to 2,000 BC) periods as pottery and soaps. Since the end of the Stone Age, human civilizations and scientific discoveries have progressed by leaps and bounds. Despite the advances in metallurgy, optics, chemistry, mechanics, mathematics and electricity, our understanding of fluid-surface interactions remained stagnant until 1804. Between 1804 and 1805, Thomas Young described the concept of a wetting contact angle, which controls the equilibrium shape of a fluid droplet on a surface, thus making wettability a quantified branch of physics. The late entry of this scientific field is astounding, considering the ubiquitousness of water on Earth. Despite Young’s discoveries, the area remained largely unexplored. Work on wettability was intermittent, with Edward Washburn on capillary effects in 1921 and later on, Robert Wenzel and Cassie-Baxter in 1936 and 1944 on the wetting of rough interfaces. In 1997, almost exactly 20 years ago, the field was rejuvenated by the corresponding discoveries of superhydrophilicity (water droplets spread into a sheet) and superhydrophobicity (water droplets ball up), by Wang et al. and Neinhuis et al. respectively. Since their work into these distinct super(de)wetting states, the field has grown exponentially. Today, its revival can be attributed to biomimetics (engineering mimicry / imitation of life) and a revolutionized understanding behind super(de)wetting mechanisms that are found in nature. The precise combination of hierarchical (multi-scale) texturing with select surface chemical composition is vital towards fabricating interfaces with specialized wetting properties. Knowledge behind the careful control of surface texturing holds immense potential for enabling a plethora of user-defined functional interfaces. As of the time of writing, the field of wettability encompasses multiple domains, such as superhydrophilicity (water-loving),[8] slippery superhydrophobicity (water-fearing), adhesive superhydrophobicity (an unintuitive love-fear relationship with water), superoleophobicity (oil-fearing), superamphiphobicity (water- and oil-fearing),[11] superomniphobicity (all-fearing) as well as a range of other important intermediary, cross-environment wetting states. Methods employed for achieving super(de)wettability can be broadly classified under 2 sub-classes. The first relies on intricate top-down photolithography (-drawing with light) or templating-based designs while the other uses the realms of chaotic, but deterministic and scalable bottom-up self-assembly. Both routes are promising for the development of unique super(de)wetting states, albeit with considerable drawbacks on both fronts. For instance, while lithography and templating have demonstrated exemplary surface texturing precision and super(de)wetting performance, these methods remain limited by poor scalability, complexity and costs in instrumentation and operation. Alternatively, scalable and cheap bottom-up self-assembly methods can exist within complex electro-, hydro-, aero-, thermal- or thermo-dynamically varied regimes. Consequently, each system requires intense cross-optimization research efforts in determining niche operating parameters. In this work, we explore a series of highly promising hierarchically structured material interfaces that were enabled by understanding, taming and controlling scalable but chaotic bottom-up methods. To this end, we demonstrate their potential within the entire super(de)wetting spectrum, showcased through a series of coatings and further exemplified by functional micro(fluid)mechanical systems (M-F-MS)