Prof. Alicia AN Kyoungjin’s Article on Springtail-Inspired Omniphobic Slippery Membrane Published in Nature Communications

Prof. Alicia AN Kyoungjin, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering and RGC Research Fellow, has published her groundbreaking research in Nature Communications titled “Springtail-Inspired Omniphobic Slippery Membrane with Nano-Concave Re-entrant Structures for Membrane Distillation”.

Her team developed a springtail-inspired polystyrene (PS) membrane with a nano-concave structure using electrospraying technology, followed by lubricant dip-coating, which gave the membrane omniphobic properties—resistant to both water and oil. This work was conducted in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Chonnam National University and Pusan National University in South Korea, Dalian University of Technology in Mainland China, and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The first author, Dr. GUO Jiaxin, a graduate of MSc in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at HKUST, is now an Associate Professor at Xi’an Jiaotong University.

Abstract of the paper:
The study shows that the membrane’s unique concave shape creates tiny air pockets, which make the surface extremely water-repellent. This causes water to bounce off the surface quickly, with the first bounce happening in just 16.3 milliseconds. In tests using salty water containing a common detergent (sodium dodecyl sulfate), the membrane was able to block 99.9% of the salt, making it highly effective for desalination.